


Taking up the Mantle

by Rinpoo



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Parents, Angst, Best Friends, Depression, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fantasy, Female Friendship, First Love, Forgiveness, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Intense, Loss of Parent(s), Mystery, Other, Parent Death, Parent-Child Relationship, References to Depression, Robot/Human Relationships, Robotics, Robots, Sad, Science Fiction, Slow Romance, Survival, Technology, Teen Romance, learning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 16:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 101,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13707828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinpoo/pseuds/Rinpoo
Summary: Much has changed in the past decade since the defeat of Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally Acorn.  Robotnik’s absolute power and cruelty are left unchallenged as the war escalates to greater heights.  Can the youth of Knothole change the fate handed to them?  Or will they fall victim to this vile, decadent world of brutal tyranny?





	1. The Last of Peace

**Author's Note:**

> V.3 I rewrote the entire beginning of this chapter by adding 3-4000 words so as to make it way more engaging and reflect the quality of later chapters. I intend to upload the other chapters here when I get the time; If you find yourself unable to wait after reading the first chapter, feel free to go here (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12522234/1/Taking-up-the-Mantle) for the other chapters as you please. People that are reading it really seem to enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it, so I hope it entertains you as well.
> 
> This story is a work in progress, so I will most likely be updating and editing it frequently. Each chapter is typically over 10 000 words, so there are bound to be some errors in grammar and the like. (I try to get them every re-edit)
> 
> The graphic violence warning is a just in case. I feel the violence in this story is graphic enough for a teenager to handle without going overboard, but I know some people can be sensitive to any kind of violent material, so I put it there to be polite to those of you who are like that.
> 
> Also the tag robot/human relationships. I know the story is about anthropomorphic animals, but they are fundamentally human in a cognitive sense.

Howling winds rapped against the huts of Knothole late into the night, and the sheer apprehension of what was to come made the princess and her crew of Freedom Fighters all the tenser as the hour drew near.

Sally's furred hand moved across her wooden table as she grasped onto Nicole and slid the closed computer into her vest pocket.  She looked up from the dim candle that cast a flickering, ominous glow around the hut and she settled her gaze on the moonlit forest just beyond her window.

Another mission...  How frequently they came, and even though she had become used to them over the years; the fact that she had to leave her darling children behind with nobody there to look after them brought her pain.  She shifted her glance over to the bed, and she could see that her beloved three-year-old daughter lay in a deep sleep on the center of her bed.

“Sonia…”  She whispered to herself, as if remorseful, and then her eyes started to dart around the dark of the room frantically looking for the other.  It was as if instinct took over the minute one of them was out of sight.

“Mommy?”  She heard her beloved son call from her side, and she immediately realized she had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him awaken and maneuver over to her.

"Max..."  She said in a hushed tone while she eyed the tiny squirrel that was her adorable six-year-old son.  He was dressed in his blue onesie pajamas and looking somewhat fearful.

“You should be in bed.”  Sally attempted to sound stern, but it was too difficult to resist those big eyes of his.  She could tell the rattling outside likely woke him, and she knew he was smart enough to interoperate what she was up to.

"I… don' wan you to go..."  Her son whimpered and latched his tiny arms around the base of her leg.  Sally didn't know why he had to make it so hard for her, but in truth, she couldn't blame him.  She didn't want to leave him here either.

Sally gave him a smile and hoisted him up to sit on her lap by the candlelight.  "Now honey, you know we need to go to keep you and everyone else safe."  She leaned in and kissed his squirrel nose sweetly.

“I. I know, but I.”  Max tried to articulate his thoughts as fast as a six-year-old was able, but Sally just smiled to him and rubbed his little back.

"We need you to stay here and look after Sonia.  After all, you are her big brother, and she needs you."  Sally said sweetly.

Max pondered for a second and could see his hedgehog sister sleeping on the bed from his vantage point on his mother’s lap.  “I…”  He thought about the statement slowly, and then felt a sense of big boy pride, as his mother gave him her trusting glance.  “I will mommy.”  His voice came out strong for a little boy.

“I knew you would understand,” Sally said as she stood up and lifted her son in her arms while she did, which extracted a giggle from him.

"Shh Max,"  Sally whispered, unable to help but laugh at her son's adorableness while she held him close to her chest.

“I’m sorry...”  Max cupped his furred hands to his mouth, not wanting to wake his sister.

“It’s ok, just know that you’re in charge while I’m gone.  Make sure Sonia stays safe, Okay?”  Sally asked, as she placed her son on the open side of the bed next to his sleeping sister and began to tuck him beneath the covers.

Max gave her a sleepy smile, and she leaned in and gave him several kisses to his face.  "We'll be back soon, don't worry,"  Sally assured him, as she turned away and started walking towards the hut's exit.

Max nodded slowly and watched as his mother opened the door to the outside, revealing the harsh winds and moon to him.  The last thing his mother did was smile in his direction and give him a sad little wave.  With that, she quietly shut the door behind herself, leaving her beloved children behind with nothing but the glow of the flickering candle.

…………

…………

"Sally-girl are Y'all sure about this…?"  Bunnie asked in a somewhat apprehensive tone, as she approached from the darkness with Antoine and Rotor.

Sally jolted out of her sad thoughts and immediately looked over to see her dear friends standing at her side.

“I...”  Sally let out a sigh.  “Yes, Bunnie.  Sir. Charles and Nicole have come across some rather distressing plans of Robotnik’s that require the effort of all of us.”  It was clear by the grim look on Sally’s face that this was a risk she was having trouble taking.

Bunnie just gave a nod and confidently put her furred hand on Sally’s shoulder to reassure her.  “Well, heck, Annie’s been out for hours now, an that kid ain’t wakin’ up any time soon.  The quicker we get this over with, the sooner we can come on home.”

Antoine gave a nod, as he placed his hand on the hilt of his blade.  “Oui, I am to be believing that the course of action is sound.  I am not to be willing to let harm befall my daughter at all costs.” His voice was full of passion, and he was ready to take the risks required for that task.

Rotor scratched his head, he really didn't know if it was wise to leave such little kids in Knothole alone, but at the same time, he knew that if they all didn't go on this mission, there might not be a Knothole for anybody.  "I, well… if you are sure this is what needs to be done, I'm in."  he eventually said.

"Alright..."  Sally gave a weak smile as the wind roughly blew her hair about.  "We are splitting up on this mission.  Sonic and I are going to head to Robotnik's new security system that Nicole discovered on my last data raid."  She paused to get out Nicole and quickly displayed a map for all to see.   "You guys are to head to the new roboticization facility, and plant timed charges to destroy the entire place."

Everyone looked on as Sally explained the basics.  They all had an understanding that Robotnik was working on some strange new roboticization technology, and that destroying the entire building after disabling the security was the path of least resistance.

Sally closed Nicole and placed the computer back into her pocket.  “After you plant the charges, leave and head to the power ring pool.  We will all meet there and then head home as a group.”

Everyone gave a nod of agreement, as Rotor lifted the bag he had set on the ground.  It was filled with the timed explosives they were to set.  Bunnie held up her metal arm and gave a cheerful smile.  "Ain't nothin' to worry bout Sally-girl.  I can get these charges set quicker' than ya can say carrot cake."

With the vote of confidence from Bunnie and an agreement from everybody else, Sally gave them her first genuine smile of the night.  It eased her worries somewhat to know that everybody was there to help pull her through.

The three Freedom Fighters took their leave of Sally to get a head start on their task because they knew they would need a head start to keep up with Sonic.  Sally just stood and watched as the dark forest swallowed their forms in its murky shadows until they were no more.

“Be careful everyone...”  Sally whispered to herself as she waited in the center of Knothole.

After about ten more minutes the sound of walking alerted Sally.  The howling of the wind mixed with the high anxiety of the mission had caused Sally to jump in fright from the slightest hint of movement.

“Ah!”  She let out an abruptly quiet yell of surprise.

"Hey, hey, relax Sal it's me,"  Sonic said as he positioned himself in front of her, slinging his brown backpack onto his back.

“I know…”  Sally responded.  Even though she expected Sonic her nerves were getting to her more than they typically did.

Sonic gave her a confident smile and placed his hand on her shoulder.  “Relax Sal, this is going to be quick and easy.”

Sally gave him an annoyed look, and let out an exasperated sigh.  “You always say that Sonic, even when you know how dangerous things are.”

"When have I ever been wrong?"  He let out a laugh and held his arms open for her.

“A lot of times!”  Sally shouted lightly in angry, as she slid into his arms. 

Once he was holding her bridal style, she looked up at him while he stared down at her.  It was evident to her that he was getting her going to keep her from feeling so sorry about the kids.

“Thanks…”  Her voice came out low and full of sheepish gratitude.

"Don't sweat it, Sal.  I checked up on Tails,' and all the kiddos are asleep.  We'll be up and back before they even wake for breakfast."  Sonic said assuredly.

Sally reached up feeling somewhat emboldened by Sonic's confidence as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek.  "The sooner, the better." She replied.

"My princess' wish is my command!"  He joked as he revved up his feet, and with a quiet beginning to his run, he picked up more and more speed as he darted away from the village.

Once Sonic knew that he was well out of earshot of the sleeping children, he kicked it into high gear, as the sound of a sonic boom echoed through the surrounding forest.  Sally held on for dear life, as the two raced at breakneck speeds towards Robotropolis and their desired target.

It only took mere minutes for Sonic and Sally to reach the outskirts of the city and then mere seconds to reach their destination located within.  SWATBOT security was rather lax compared to the usual, and it put Sally in a state of uncertainty.

"This doesn't feel right,"  Sally said, as she approached the dilapidated looking facility before her.

"Sal, you know those metal-heads are likely guarding that roboticization place, and we both know that Robotnik expects us to be there,"  Sonic said.

Sally somewhat ignored him still weighing on the side of caution, but when she actually looked inside the facility through one of the side windows.  She could see SWATBOT guards posted everywhere along the floor.

"Sonic, it seems that this is the place.  I think it is devoid of outside guards, to appear inconspicuous to us."  Sally gave a theory, though it was more for herself than for Sonic.

“So whata we do Sal?”  Sonic asked as he bent low to the ground underneath the window.

"Our best course of action is to take the ventilation system to the central security mainframe.  I can then use Nicole to disable the security system."  Sally said as she retrieved Nicole.  Once she opened up the machine, she pointed to the blinking spot on the map.

“That is where we need to go, once we shut it down I need you to run us out of here.”  She finished.

"Sounds like a plan Sal,"  Sonic said in a low tone, as he gave a bump to her fist.

The two maneuvered upwards, and eventually found a ventilation grate that Nicole could easily cut through with her laser to allow them access to the shaft. 

"Nicole, activate laser,"  Sally commanded.

“Activating Sally.”  Nicole gave her monotonous reply.

A minute or two of cutting and the metal grate fell off easily, allowing Sonic to catch it in his hands quietly.

"Nice work Sal,"  Sonic said as he gave her a thumbs up and watched her climb into the shaft.

After Sally had disappeared into the hole, he quickly followed.  The vents were filthy and disgusting, covered in years of dirt and grime.

"Ugh, Imma' need a shower after this,"  Sonic commented, as the two made their way as delicately as possible through the vent system.

As the two shuffled their way, the amount of noise they were creating began to concern Sally, so she took a second to peer out through one of the grates leading to the central room.  The SWATBOTS seemed unaware and utterly oblivious to their presence.

Once Sally was satisfied with how clueless the robots seemed to be, she continued onward through the ventilation shaft.  Both Sonic and herself were covered in gunk, and their fur and quills were layered in a gross brown and grey dust.

"Here,"  Sally whispered as she pointed downwards towards a vent grate below her.  Sonic looked hard and could see a blinking console through it.

"Great, now let's disable that thing and juice outta here,"  Sonic said enthusiastically.

Sally gave him a silent nod, and after peering as much as she could into the room, she determined that it was empty.  She used Nicole’s laser to cut the sides of the grate, while Sonic held onto it.  Once the grate was cut free, Sonic pulled it up into the shaft quietly.

“Nice work Sonic.”  Sally complimented him.  The mission was going so smoothly, that she felt incredibly confident now.

Sonic lowered his head down and once he saw that the room was empty except for the computer.  He leaped down quickly so that he could provide Sally with a more comfortable landing.

Sally jumped from the ceiling and landed into Sonic's embrace.  After which she quickly jumped to her feet and ran over to the console located against the wall.  With a quick inspection, Sally could see a deep indentation leading to a slot for Nicole to attach into.  It was oddly contoured and deep, but it seemed to be the same as any other console that Sally had hacked.

“Alright Sonic keep an eye on the door.  This will only take a few minutes.”  Sally said, as she reached her hand into the indent and attached Nicole to the console. 

As soon as Nicole’s connection was made with the central computer. Two halves of metal snapped forward from both sides of Sally’s wrist and latched tightly with a click, sealing her hand into the front of the console.

“Ah!”  She cried out in complete surprise as the tight shackle tore into her skin and fur, keeping her trapped by the computer.

 "Sal!"  Sonic called in a panic, not really thinking about the SWATBOTS in the other room.  He ran over to her and could see the blood dripping out of the sides of the durable metal piece.

"What's going on Sal?"  Sonic asked as he reached his hand forward to touch the metal console.

It was about now that Sonic could hear the shuffling of robots from the other room, and he quickly went over to place himself between Sally and possible danger.

“Sal!”  Sonic called again, as if at a loss for how to help.  He could feel the pressure of the situation building, and he placed his hands against the metal door in anticipation for the robot’s likely arrival.

Sally panicked as she tried to pull herself free of the computer, but it was so painfully latched around her that nothing she did could free it.  She moved her fingers, and with all the strength she could muster she pulled backward and released Nicole from the console port.

Sonic looked back and could see Sally struggling, as he held his position at the door.  "You got it!?"  He yelled, willing to rush to her aid at a moment's notice.

“Just keep any robots out!  I will handle this!”  Sally said ferociously in a state of fear.  She knew that time was of the essence, and every second trapped was a second closer to capture.

Sally could feel Nicole in her hand, and as she suspected, removing her did not release the shackle.  She bit down hard on her own tongue briefly, as she turned Nicole upwards with her trapped hand and let it rest at the bottom of the indent facing upwards.

“Nicole!  Use your laser!”  She yelled.

“Affirmative Sally.”  She heard the A.I. respond. 

Within seconds the laser shot upwards piercing that metal that trapped Sally, but unfortunately also burning her trapped wrist with searing pain.

“Ahhhhh!”  She screeched as she attempted to manipulate the direction of the beam, cutting from side to side as best she could.

Sonic couldn't stand to hear that and dashed away from the door to her aid.  He grabbed onto Sally's wrist and with a mighty pull the weekend metal snapped, releasing her hand.  Nicole went flying out of Sally's grasp as it skipped and tossed along the steel floor, eventually landing in a corner of the room.

“Ahh hahhh.”  Sally cried out as she looked at her burnt and cut wrist.  It was quite severe, but without such a maneuver there was no way to release herself.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough of this!” Sonic yelled as he grabbed Sally with all his strength and hoisted her up into his arms. “We’re outta here!”

“Sonic!  Nicole!”  Sally cried out somewhat frantically due to her physical agony.

Sonic was about to start moving over to Nicole to pick her up when a red light began to blink in the room, and a loud siren began to echo through the building they were in.  No SWATBOTS had shown up, even after all this time, and it seemed as if they were waiting diligently outside of the room for the attempted escape.

After another second an obnoxious hissing sound was heard, followed by a solid dispersion of foggy gas.  It rapidly filled the room, and immediately started to make the two of them cough.

“Ah..Sal… we …need to go..”  Sonic struggled to say though coughs and deep inhales.

Sally rapidly coughed, as Sonic's strength gave way, and he accidentally dropped her to the floor with a thud.

“Ah.!”  Sally covered her mouth, as she desperately searched through the noxious fog for Nicole.

The room was quickly starting to spin because of the potent chemical, and Sally’s strength was leaving her rapidly.

Sonic moved forward and tried to open the door to allow the gas to escape.  He thought that dealing with a bunch of SWATBOTS was much better than dealing with noxious fumes, but much to his surprise the door had been sealed from the other side to keep them in, rather than to protect the console.

He fumbled backward, knowing that he needed to power through the door if they both were to have any chance of escape.  He readied himself into as good a running position as he could get, but started to falter from his shaky legs.

“Ugh!”  He cried.

Sonic dropped to his knees and started to reach towards his back in sheer desperation so that he could grab the power ring situated in his bag.  His head was spinning, and all the sounds started to blur together for him.

"No…"  He gritted his teeth and tore open the backpack while toppling over and landing face first on the metal floor.  His power ring was sent sliding across the ground into the thick mist.

“Rrrr!”  Sonic growled as he refused to give in, but try as he might he felt himself succumbing to the fatigue.

His dizzy spinning vision was trying to focus on Sally, but all he could see were her still boots next to him, the rest of her body eaten by the fog.

The sound of the door latch opened, and Sonic could tell that the SWATBOTS were finally coming.  He tried to stand to be ready to fight, but he once again toppled to the floor with a fit of coughs.  Eventually, his consciousness started to flicker in and out, until only flashes of images remained.

…………

…………

_“I’ve got a special surprise for you my dear hedgehog.”_

…………

…………

“ _Sal, speak to me, please!  It's me, Sonic!"_

…………

…………

“ _What have you done to her...  Sally!”_

…………

…………

“ _No… No, No, No…”_

…………

…………

“ _You won’t get away with this butt-nik!”_

…………

…………

" _Why my dear hedgehog…."_

…………

…………

_"I already have."_

…………

…………

…………

…………

"It has been over ten years since that day..... The day mom and dad went missing....  I can't help but wish I could have done more." Max's words echoed out into the glade to his dear friend, as he let out an exasperated, almost frustrated sigh.

He leaned his face forward looking at the sword firmly implanted into the earth beneath him, residing in between his brown leather boots. "I guess I just feel overwhelmed…  Overwhelmed with everything Ann."

"Max... Listen, I dunno what it is like to lose parents, I hope never to know, but I just want you to remember you are not alone. You are my best friend, and we are, all of us in Knothole, one big family." Annie's light, feminine voice echoed back to him in his moment of frustration.

His eyes scanned over the forest glade and stopped when they encountered his close friend sitting beside him in the summer grass, adorning her usual pocketed jeans and an old grey tank top.

"Ann… Thank you for listening to me, it does me good to get things off my chest." He smiled at her as she returned it to him, her rabbit ears flopped back while she returned to looking at the breaks in the trees where the sunlight could pierce into this sacred place. To many, this area would be a paradise, but to them, it was where they used to spend many an hour talking and listening to one another.

Max lifted his head and looked at the sky with her, keeping his weight pressed against the blade stuck in the dirt. "The life of a ground squirrel… an Acorn… To think that even with no kingdom I would be groomed to be a king. The formalities, the dignity, the education… It all feels like it is way too much..."

Annie let out a laugh to his complaints and waved her hand at him "Oh ya, well try havin a ma' that's stronger and tougher than anything in a hundred miles, and a dignified captain of the guard's papa who expects refinement and discipline." Her voice was a mixture of frustration, love, and admiration.

Max's face lit up a bit, and a smile crept across his face.  She could hear him crack a laugh at her father's expense. "You don't have to tell ME about your dad. He is training me in both royal etiquette AND sword fighting. I wake up every day to…. Max do zat, Max zis is ze propour way to behave!" He began grossly exaggerating her father, which elicited laughter from Annie.

"Aw shucks, you have been spending more time with my dad than I have, since they've been grooming you to be King Max." She rested her head on her hand, propping herself up on her elbow. "Can't say I am jealous, I have to deal with him in private." She was now facing in his direction, looking at his blue, royal clothes and brown boots, he was the likeness of King Acorn himself, minus the ridiculous moustache that is.

"Hey, Ann?" He stated gently.

"Hm?" She kept her focus on his face.

"Do you ever wonder what things would be like if… if we grew up in Mobius... Y'know before everything turned to hell?" He had his eyes focused on hers and honestly wondered what she was thinking to herself in regards to this matter."

She frowned a bit and nodded "I believe we all think and wonder that sometimes, I feel that it would be fun to be able to go to a store or see a movie together." She spoke with a hint of sadness in her voice, and it was clear to Max that they weren't afforded the luxury of adolescents of the past, and it did seem to weigh down on them both in a multitude of ways.

With his question answered satisfactorily, he stood up and pulled his sword up from the ground, and slid it into its sheath at his side. He walked over to Annie while she remained lying on the grass with a smirk on her face. He outstretched his hand offering it to her in a faux chivalrous manner. "Heading back to Knothole village milady?" He asked with a smile.

"Well, now I dunno? Are you sure a king to be should waste his time with the peasantry?" She had a smile on her face, enjoying the scene unfolding.

His hand grabbed hers, and he yanked her to her feet much to her surprise. Swinging that sword around all day gave him more upper body strength than he used to have. "A fair maiden is a fair maiden, no matter what station her birth." He smirked trying to sound cool, but his laughter was betraying the coolness of his tone.

"Oh! You smartass!" She said with annoyance, as she pulled back and punched him as hard as she could in the arm.

"Ah!" He cried out in pain holding his arm where she'd socked him one. God was her small rabbit size deceiving. She hit like a truck.

"That'll show you who is the fair maiden, ‘Sir Max’." She let out a laugh at his expense. Watching him hold his hurting left arm brought her a sense of pride and satisfaction.

"Alright, alright, sheesh I get it." He said feeling the pain shoot through his arm. They walked alongside one another through the trees, bushes, and brush to make their way back to Knothole village. It was clear that the time was late afternoon at this point, as the sky was painted a lovely orange color. The large beams of light that had pierced the trees during midday were now gone, leaving the holes in the treetops filled with the beautiful color of suns dying light.

The two were enjoying the brisk leisurely walk they were taking, if anything it was Max's favorite day of the week. A day without study, swords, missions, or chores. It was a day where he and everybody usually took it easy. It was the moments like these that he treasured above all else. It was a time where he and his friend could have some normalcy in their lives, and feel almost like the kids that they were.

Annie stared over at her friend in his contemplative thoughts, and he locked eyes with her as if they were both channeling the same thoughts and feelings about the day. She was about to open her mouth to begin conversing with him during the walk back. When without warning a loud boom sounded in their vicinity knocking them both out of their mesmerized stares and peaceful thoughts.

"God bro, what is takin ya so long!" Max heard an annoyed voice and grimaced knowing just exactly who it was chastising him for his slow sauntering back to Knothole.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite little sister." Max put on a grin, turning to see a short, light blue hedgehog, wearing an oversized blue vest. With her arms crossed and her brow furrowed menacingly.

"God, you're the slowest person alive! Dinner is ready, and here you are walking like a snail to come eat it." She was annoyed, but he knew this was because nobody would let her eat until everybody had returned and were in the dining hut for dinner.

"Sorry sis, we lost track of time." He and Annie let out a laugh simultaneously. She was a good kid, being thirteen years old made her immature, but she had a good heart. She took a lot after her father, but being she was the only one that could keep up with him since the time she could walk. It felt only natural. He looked like an Acorn through and through, but his eyes were a beautiful emerald green like his fathers.

"Ohhh, you always lose track of time!" She fussed turning herself around and looked back at him. "Just move it will ya, I'm starving, and so is Rotor." With that, she sped off leaving a trail of dirt in her wake, no doubt on her way to telling everybody how slow he has been, and why she should not have to wait to eat.

"Your little sister is somthin." Annie piped up with a giggle.

"Yes, indeed she is." He spoke rubbing the back of his head with the palm of his right hand. He honestly loved his sister and her personality. It reminded him of his father, and even though he was older than his sister by three whole years, Max always realized that he'd not spent as much time with their father as she did, at least, as much as he would have liked. "My dad was a hero, and I know she is eager to fill his shoes, but I hope that she takes the time to discover herself, rather than just attempt to be our father."

"That's what she has got you for silly." Annie chimed in as the two emerged from the thicket of trees, and could see the fires of the village dancing in the evening darkness. The smell vegetables and meats wafted through the air, and it was enough to make any stomach growl.

"Hey, I'll race ya to the Mess." The quirky bunny said with a jump, not giving time for a reply. It took a second for him to realize, that by the time she had offered her challenge to him, she was already running towards the goal.

"H-Hey! No fair, you cheater!" He called to her immediately, realizing he had been had. His legs took off, but unfortunately for him, he was nothing like his sister or father, so catching up to her was more than a lot of effort. However, by the time he was toe to toe with her, she had already reached the mess hall door. Out of breath, she stood there with a proud smile on her face.

"Haha... I-I beat the son of the great Sonic the Hedgehog." She taunted through gasping breaths, trying to get his goat.

"Very funny," he said unamused by her stunt and taunts, he was slightly out of breath, but not nearly to the extent Annie was. He looked down for a second and then back at her. "Let's go eat. I'm starving."

She nodded back at him slowly, feeling she might have crossed the line just a little with her taunting, but Max kept his smile up, and so the two walked in without another word on the subject.

"Well, well, if it isn't moi beautiful daughter and moi favorite student!" A heavy French accent came greeting them as they entered. Antoine stood before them beaming with pride, his traditional royal garb worn even on days when it was not necessary. "Ah, excellent Maximillian, I see that you are always wearing your royal attire, ah it does warm my heart to see the royal pride in someone so youthful!"

Max smiled at him and gave a bow. "Anything to do right by the Acorn name." He said stoically to Antoine. Of course, everybody else in the room but Antoine could sense the fakeness in his declaration. Annie rolled her eyes, and Bunnie gave a sweet chuckle while bringing out bowls of food for the two late joiners.

"C'mon sugah, let the two sit down n' eat," Bunnie said in her sweet southern accent. She let down the bowls next to each other for easy access. "Now you two dig on in, it's mah specialty stew with greens n' a side helpin of fresh cut pork." She seemed especially happy to see them, and always enjoyed making something scrumptious for her daughter and her friend to eat.

Max sat down with a thank you and waited for his friend to sit beside him. Although he was starving, he did not want to be rude like his sister and start without her. He patiently sat there looking up at her, but her father stood in the way of her and her meal, as she looked at him with flushed cheeks of embarrassment.

"Daughter, it has been coming to my attention that you have not given your loving father a kiss upon your return." He beamed with happiness, and Annie could swear that embarrassing her in front of everyone was part of the reason why he expressed his love in such a manner. She knew arguing was pointless, so she took a breath and gave her father a quick peck on the cheek to show her love for him.

"Now, now, isn't that just the cutest lil ol' thing Y'all ever did see." Bunnie chimed in with happiness seeing her two favorite people appreciating one another.

Annie murmured, going passed Antoine who stood smiling happily at his daughter's affection and taking her place beside Max. "Ugh, so embarrassing, I don't know why he always does that to me." She complained quietly to her friend sitting next to her.

"mm- Moih-mm." Max turned to her making kissy faces and puckering his lips to her.

'Son of a bitch… I am going to kill you." She began to grit her teeth, her temper rising, which only encouraged Max to laugh at her, and take a sip of her mother's soup. "That's for cheating in the race, and punching my arm." He stated bluntly putting his soup spoon down.

"I'm goin to break that arm." She whispered to him while he smiled at her. "Let's just call it even and eat. Besides, I think it is great that your dad loves you. I'd kiss my mom and dad… well if they were still here." He stated to her with sincerity.

She recalled their conversation earlier, and it made her feel a bit bad that she sometimes took her father's affection for granted, but she had to agree that they were probably even at this point. "Fine." She stated begrudgingly as the two of them dug into their meals together. Despite her embarrassment of her father, she was never embarrassed by her mother's cooking.

The dinner went on without much of a hitch from that point on, and everybody seemed to be enjoying the meal. Max's sister kept berating him for his tardiness, but it appeared to be mostly to get under his skin like she so often loved to do. After dinner wrapped up Annie bid farewell to Max; because it was her turn to help clean up the tables and dishes.  Max had to leave so he could be up at the crack of dawn to continue his lessons with both Rotor and Antoine. Despite his demeanor, he was relatively smart with computers, and Rotor was the perfect instructor when it came to technology.

He knew he needed to wash up and head to his hut for rest, but first, he thought he would stop off and say goodnight to his sister like he often did. He approached her hut quietly and began to rap at the door. The only light available was the light inside of her hut shining brightly through a window.

"Who is it?" an annoyed voice came from inside of the hut in response to the knocking.

"Who do you think it is, genius?" he taunted her from the other side of the door.

"Oh, of course, it is you, I should have known, I could smell ya through the door." The hatch unlocked, and the door opened allowing him access. She turned away from him and flopped on the bed. "Came to give me a good night kiss bro?" She stated in a way that exuded more impatience and annoyance than normal.

"Alright, what's your problem?" He asked knowing the fine line of his sister's attitude better than anybody else's.

"I don have a problem" she crossed her arms defensively and stared at the ceiling of her hut.

"Cut the shit, Sonia." He stated bluntly and gave her a stern older brother look. "I know you have a problem, so rather than waste time and playing games, why don't you just be out with it."

She half sat up leaning on her arm, her eyes staring in disbelief at him, not used to hearing such words from his mouth compared to her. She could sense the seriousness in him at the moment, so she decided to resign herself with a sigh. "I just don't like this bro… I mean, everybody is trying to get you ready to replace mom, you've been going out on missions for over a year now into Robotropolis. I just… I don't think mom and dad are dead, y'know. I want to save them… I want to help you all. I am like dad, but everybody tells me I am too young for it." She looked down, and he could sense the sadness in her voice, she was strong, but he could tell that she was emotionally fragile.

He looked to her and understood how she felt. "Look, Sonia, I don't like this King stuff any more than you do, but it is a precaution, you know. Knothole needs a leader, and by virtue of my birth. It falls upon me, being the oldest Acorn. I don't think mom and dad are dead either… but until we find them and bring them back things need to be this way. I also can understand your frustration about not being able to help, and we both know as well as anybody else that you are more than capable ability wise to deal with the hardships that lie in Robotropolis.  However, the sheer fact that you are all bent out of shape and acting out shows you lack the maturity for that kind of responsibility."

She frowned at him but understood the point he was trying to make. She then looked at him and shot him a smile of appreciation. "I knew you wouldn't give up on mom and dad."

He gave her a warm smile and began to forcefully mess up her hair with his hand making it go all over. "Nope, and I believe in you too."

"Aww c'mon I hate when you do that!" She protested grumpily trying to straighten her messed up hair.

"C'mon your hair always looks like that in the morning, and…. all day, heck I am just giving you a head start!" He taunted her precious hedgehog hair and quills.

"GET OUT!" She yelled angrily at his taunts, as he made his way out the door, hearing the quick slam and latch behind him, he was lucky she didn't use her super speed to smash the door on him, but he had a feeling that she would be benevolent to him tonight.

"Night sis." He quietly said as he sauntered off into the night towards his hut. A billion thoughts were racing through his mind about the events and conversations of the day. He always felt that his parents were alive, but he'd never seen hide nor quill of either of them. He wondered endlessly about what befell them. He was only six at the time of their disappearance, and details in his memory remained fuzzy.

It was not long of him wandering lost in thought until he found himself in front his hut, he opened the door and latched the thing behind him, opting to turn on the light so that he could see better. It was not long before he undressed from his fancy clothes, and his sword lay scattered about the floor with his boots. On the table adjacent to his bed lay Nicole. She was battered and damaged with scuffs and scratches, but was still in working order.

Seeing her made his mind travel back to that horrid day his parents were snatched from him. The word was, at the time, that Robotnik was working on some mass roboticization machine that would allow him to roboticize animals within a proximity of an activation signal. Everyone went to put a stop to it, but when they split up to do their perspective parts of the raid. Sonic and Sally never returned to the power ring pool, despite a mass effort to find them they were never located. The machine had been stopped, and the developing plans were destroyed, but two of the most prominent freedom fighters ceased to exist on that day.

Max slowly walked over and picked up Nicole, examining her used and abused case that surrounded her powered off screen. The person that found Nicole and returned her to them was his great uncle, Chuck. He had scoured the city of Robotropolis for over a year, looking for any clue as to what happened to Sonic or Sally, before eventually stumbling upon her in a derelict building. It would seem that Sally had lost Nicole rather quickly in the raid for some inexplicable reason since the location was not far from Chucks hidden spy bunker.

"So many questions," Max said aloud to himself in the solitary confinement of his hut. He tried Y'all and hard to piece things together, but nothing ever made any sense to him. The only thing he felt sure of is that his parents were resilient and vigorous enough to overcome any obstacle.

"What happened on that day, Nicole…" He asked out of sheer desperation for answers, his voice uttering her name caused Nicole's screen to activate, and the visual input of data flashed before his eyes.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to provide information on the events that transpired Maximillian." The feminine digital voice devoid of nuance spoke to him.

He placed her on the table and frowned, just once he wished she could talk to him like an average person. She was the only link to his parents, and she was the only one he ever had to talk to during these twilight hours. He knew by now he would be up late with burning questions, he just wished he had somebody to share it with sometimes.

"Nicole, I…" He stopped himself from saying anything further as her screen light awaiting his inquiry, input, or command.

Max thought for a second and just shook his head; he felt dumb about desiring to ask her what he was thinking.  He was sure he knew the answer she'd give already.

"Awaiting your inquiry Maximillian," Nicole repeated having heard him begin speaking to her through her external speakers.

He resigned himself and figured since nobody else was listening to this, and Nicole is most likely incapable of judgment. He might as well entertain himself in some way. "I was wondering if you…. I don't know… Have any opinions or feelings? Do you ever miss my mom?"

The computer lit up and sat silent for what seemed like an eternity to him until it finally levied an answer.

"I do not experience emotions as you understand them. I am capable of learning through interaction, but possess no autonomy outside of an Acorn's desired purpose." The computer sat on the table saying nothing beyond that, leaving Max to think for a few minutes.

"So, you are saying that you can do so to some small degree?" He looked at her screen light up, while it was processing the information he was asking.

"Affirmative, while I do not feel, and thought is based on the instruction of an Acorn. I am capable of learning new information based on contact with other organic beings. I am limited in functionality by my hardware, which in its present state does not allow the advanced functioning of newer A.I. systems." The computer stopped lighting up after its explanation.

"Nicole, run a risk analysis of such a hardware update." He stated bluntly to her.

Her screen lit up once more and took time to process.

"There is a 75% chance that my A.I. system will successfully adapt to newer hardware and a 23% chance that my A.I. will cease functioning. However, in the event this takes place it is possible some of my functions will remain intact." She paused as she processed further information.

"There is a 2% chance that all functions in their entirety cease, and I become completely unusable." She finished her self-analysis scan.

"So, if only your A.I. goes, then you are nothing more than a glorified laser cutter?"

"Affirmative, hard built-in features will still function, but most other features will be inaccessible." She confirmed his statement.

Max plopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling after hearing all of that, and thought to himself for a while. "Nicole, do you want to be upgraded?" He asked her.

Nicole lit up one last time before responding to his pointless inquiry "Whatever you think is appropriate Maximillian." She gave her response.

"I knew you'd say that." He sighed, as he reached a hand forward to turn out the light by his bed. He had already spent the majority of the night thinking, pondering, inquiring, and bothering Nicole. He knew he needed at least a few hours of sleep. "Goodnight… Nicole."

"Affirmative Maximillian." Her screen began to power down, and before he knew it, everything in his room was dark; Leaving him to his thoughts.

He spent many a sleepless night in wondering, and tonight was no different. Nicole was of no solace, and indeed he was scared of wiping out her A.I. program base if he were to attempt to upgrade her. The realization that she was almost 20 years old from a technological standpoint had led him to the understanding that her usefulness in its entirety was in danger for future missions. Was the loss of Nicole's base A.I. worth the risk? The thought scared him, but at the same time, he was almost positive that he needed to do it.

Despite all the thoughts and fears that plagued him, sleep inevitably found him in his weariness. Maybe he'd only a few hours of sleep tonight, but many plans for tomorrow as far as he was concerned.

The morning came quickly, and the sun had not even come over the horizon to light the small hidden village before Max was up and about. He sat up in bed and rubbed his face, feeling disoriented and overly tired, but still good never the less. He pulled himself from his bed weakly and stood next to his bed in the darkness of his hut. He slowly began to make his way to his small bathroom to clean himself up a bit before dressing to head out.

He hit the bathroom light, which was powered by the villages water wheel, and stared at himself in the glass mirror. His fur was a mess, and he looked tired, he could see that he was changing. Not only was it clear that he was less well-rested than he'd ever been, but his body was becoming tempered and toned with the continual use of that sword day after day. In truth, he'd have preferred to be a prodigy of speed like his father and sister, but unfortunately for him, that was not how things came to be.

He stripped himself of his underclothes and began to turn on his shower, dousing himself in hot water. Funny to think that after more than a decade and hundreds of raids on Robotropolis this was the pinnacle of luxury for Knothole. He was not ungrateful, but more surprised at Rotor's ingenuity in creating a plumbing system that filtered water, and allowed for hot water. If anything, he hoped he could be that smart someday. He remained hopeful for that day, while he rubbed his face with hot water and soap. He was always dreaming of a bright, optimistic future, but then again maybe that was everybody in Knothole.

After his refreshing shower, he cleaned his teeth and groomed his fur to be halfway presentable, but his tiredness shined through in his baggy eyes. "Man, am I going to hear a lecture from Antoine." He complained to himself. Antoine was a kind and gentle person, but when it came to teaching Max, he was extra hard and strict. Max knew it was because he wanted the best of him, but he wouldn't lie, it got on his nerves from time to time. He moved into the center of his hut and assembled his royal coat, put on his boots, and fixated his sword into place.

His eyes traveled towards the table where he had left Nicole, and the conversation of last night entered his mind. He usually left her in his room, as she, to him, was more a keepsake of his mother than anything he needed around the village. Robotnik's security was much greater in Robotropolis than it once had been, and her effectiveness on missions had declined since the early days of his parent's youth. He quietly picked her up and stuffed her into his coat pocket. "No risk, no reward." He murmured to himself while exiting the hut to the just rising sun. It was time for breakfast, and he looked forward to having it, it might give him the energy he needed for the day.

He quickly reached the mess where everybody congregated for their meals, and while it was optional to pick food up and just eat in your hut, almost everybody opted to eat together. He smiled upon entering seeing Bunnie sitting at a table by herself awaiting breakfast.

"Mah, Mah, if it ain't lil ol Max up early for breakfast. Hope Ant' didn't force this on ya, or imma have to give him a-talkin' to." She leaned forward, looking as pretty as ever despite her increased age.

"Oh, no, I got up on my own accord," Max spoke to her and took a seat next to her. She could see his posture and eyes and knew immediately that his sleep was suffering, and this hadn't been the first time.

"Somthin the matter sugah?" She asked directly, feeling the need to relieve him of his troubles, even if she could do nothing for him, perhaps a sympathetic ear would console him.

He paused for a second not sure if he should take the bait and spill his guts, but out of anybody in Knothole, Bunnie was the closest person to being his mother at this point in his life. He knows she didn't ask for him, but being good friends with Sally made her love him by proxy. He frowned a bit in distress. "I don't know. It feels like not too long ago I was a kid and now I have all these responsibilities.  I wonder if the decisions I am choosing to make now, are the right ones. What If I am wrong? What if I make a mistake that cannot be resolved? A person like me cannot afford to make any mistakes with so many eyes watching me." He put his hand on the table and began to look at it, avoiding eye contact with Bunnie for the time being.

"Hun, who even cares?" Bunnie said bluntly which caused him to look at her.  He was not expecting such a simple answer to his many thoughts. "Hell, Ol' sugar- hog never cared none about thinking things through, he followed his heart, and it alone carried us through many tryin situations. I know you're in the position that Sally was in when she was your age, bein forced into royal duty and all that, but you don't need to worry bout makin' mistakes because anything that happens, we will all pull through it together, we always have."

He could feel his spirits lift slightly, it was true it was foolish of him to think he would never make a mistake, and Bunnie was more than right, that he had those close to him to support him whenever he stumbled. "Thanks, Bunnie, you were always good to me, even if I am a pain to Annie and Antoine at times."

"Oh sugah, Antoine needs a challenge, and Annie would be lonely without ya, you two are the closest in age of anybody here.  Why, you two have been friends since before you could walk." She chuckled to herself remembering the two playing and causing mischief, sure everybody had each other, but Max and Annie were partners in crime.

"Well speak of the devil, here comes ma daughter now with the delicious breakfast!" Bunnie made a scene as Annie came out of the kitchen to set the food on the table, it was apparently her turn to cook this morning.

"Mom, do you always have to make a scene!" She protested jovially while Max greeted her with a soft wave from the table.

"Well, if it isn't lazy Max up early for some breakfast. I guess my father yelling at you for your tardiness has finally begun to sink into that brain of yours." She could see a smile creeping on his face and knew that he was getting ready to give her some sass.

"Oh Ann, I just woke up early to see you, I knew you were making breakfast and couldn't wait to try your excellent cooking." He smirked at her and began to load his plate with some fresh eggs and pancakes, made from their farmed goods.

"Hah, went the flattery rout today I see? Well forget it, you are still thick-headed." With that, she backed away from him, turned around, and left. Her bunny tail bounced as she walked in a peppy stance, she apparently was feeling good about besting him this morning.

Max, watched her go and shook his head, she won this round, but there was always lunch time. Despite their little back and forth, he had to admit; she cooked a delicious breakfast. Heck, even the toast tasted better than usual, or maybe he was just incredibly hungry.

Bunnie started digging into her helping of breakfast as the two shared some small talk. In the meantime, other people began to join in on the morning meal, Antoine, Rotor, then predictably in the last place, was Sonia. Who despite her fastness, hated waking early in the morning to do things.

It was still a cheery space in the morning despite the fact that Tails and Dulcy were absent from the meal. Max wished that they were back here with the group this morning enjoying the delicious meal, but knew it was not possible at this time.

Admittedly Max was worried about them being gone for as long as they were, but he knew that Tails had his hands full helping the Wolf Pack after swatbots and other robotic creatures began encroaching on Lupe's lands. Dulcy, on the contrary, was on a journey to find other dragons, to not only be home once more but also to find powerful allies that could aid in the fight against Robotnik.

Tails might have been 16 years his senior, but he was like an older brother to him, and while he typically didn't worry about one as skilled as Tails. He found his absence at the mess hall for so long somewhat distressing. "Hey, um Bunnie, is there any word when Miles… er, um, Tails will return from helping the Wolf Pack?' He asked, interrupting her conversation with Antoine.

She shook her head and smiled, "I ain't sure exactly, but the word is that things are dying down out there, and presumably he might be back within the week." Hearing her speak this brought some excitement to him, he couldn't wait to talk to him again, since not only was he somebody Max looked up to, but Tails had a high aptitude for machinery and could expand his knowledge quite a bit.

Max felt semi-guilty for letting his problems and uncertainties push Tails from his thoughts, but maybe that was a good thing since it showed an understanding that Tails was capable of handling even the most dangerous of situations. Trust was important, and Tails was somebody Max trusted with all his heart.

"Oui Max, are you ready to get to ze task at hand," Antoine asked him after wiping his mouth with a piece of cloth and politely folding it on the table to be washed later.

"Oh, well, yes, yes of course," Max responded mimicking Antoine's etiquette with the napkin and standing up straight to show his eagerness to continue his lessons.

"Oui, Oui, very, impressive, but please straighten your back more! You are representing ze Acorn family, stand with ze utmost of discipline and ze pride!" He chastised him, and turned to his beautiful wife and pecked her on the cheek. "Oui, we shall return at ze time of ze lunch!" He told her turning once more to Max and pointing towards the door, for him to march with pride and dignity.

Bunnie chuckled and waved the two out, as did Annie. "Y'all two don't overdo it ya hear!" She called loudly as the two exited the door, and she turned to Annie so that the two could begin their lessons. Bunnie had much to teach Annie about missions, and tips and tricks to deal with various types of robots before the evening was upon them.

Antoine marched Max out into a secluded forest clearing by a small river, a place they typically spent time practicing and training Max's upper body strength and dexterity.  Antoine at was not the strongest person on Mobius, and he might have once had a reputation as the most cowardly person in Knothole.   However, he was mighty fast and had practiced swordsmanship since he was younger giving him incredible skill wielding a blade. 

"Oui, and here we are again, back to ze training and ze lessons, I hope you are, how do you say, ready to be tested toughly." He spoke while drawing his blade and pointing it towards the ground.

Max hesitantly looked at him and then put his hand on the hilt of his blade. "I-I don't know Ant…. I mean, Sir... I… we never dueled with real swords before." He was apparently scared of hurting one another, and while he had used the real sword many times against trees, or objects, or to practice his form, he never actually sparred with Antoine up to this point and time.

"Well then, no better time to try then ze present." He spoke, already positioning himself into a fighting stance.

Max nodded and hesitantly raised his sword in front of himself, he was nervous, but at the same time somewhat exhilarated, this was the first time he had a chance to do this with another person. Robots and inanimate objects were one thing, but this was something else entirely to him.

"Well, what is ze brave prince waiting for?" Antoine said in a semi-mocking tone as if trying to goad him forward.

Max held his position and awaited Antoine, not foolish enough to attempt to outdo his teacher head on. He watched Antoine make fake advances and movements, which only added to his tension, he could feel the sweat pouring into his fur.

"Fine, if you will not come at moi, I shall come to you!" and with that declaration, he sped forward, almost leaping off the ground, with a swing. The swing in itself naturally terrified Max, as he lifted his sword to block the blow. Their steel clashed with a loud clap, and Max's arms were like noodles. Antoine was more than serious, and he could feel the strength pushing against him through the crossed steel.

"Ah!" Max yelled, continuing to try to overpower Antoine despite the nervousness making his arms weak. Max, however, was quite active in general, and he was relieved to find he was beginning to overpower Antoine and push him backward. Maybe he could knock Antoine's sword from his grasp and end up winning.

"It… It seems... you are a lot stronger... than I was to be expecting." Antoine said to him keeping the blades in a steady cross, gritting his teeth to try and maintain control.

Max felt he was in a good position and began to push against Antoine's blade with greater force. He was so close to winning; he could taste victory. "Almost… got… you!" He declared through breaths during the struggle.

Antoine smiled at the young boy's determination and laughed slightly. "Oui, good match," Antoine said to him confidently.

Max was surprised and wondered if he was throwing in the towel, perhaps he was trying to get him to let his guard down, but that wouldn't work on him, he thought. Keeping up the pressure against Antoine, hoping to disarm him and earn his victory finally.

Antoine without a word quickly removed his blade and side stepped out of the way, letting Max's sword glide off of his with relative ease. All of the force Max had been applying was sent flying, and he stumbled forward out of control, barely able to keep his balance. With the sword barely grasped in his right hand, and him stumbling like a fool on his feet, Antoine raised his foot and delivered a swift kick to Max's backside, sending him toppling to the ground, and his sword flying off away from him.

"Ow, Ah!' Max yelped, the kick hurt, the fall hurt, he was disoriented and disarmed. He rolled over and looked up at Antoine, who had his sword pointed towards him. Antoine gently poked Max with the end, lightly enough so that it would not even tear his outfit, and stood over him with pride.

"Ooo, you are quite dead." Antoine laughed, sheathing his sword and extending a hand to help him up, which Max took gratefully, standing beside him.

"I…. that was much different, and to think, I figured I had a chance at winning," Max spoke seemingly disappointed in himself, but in truth, it should have been evident to him since the beginning. He walked over and retrieved his sword from the dirt, and held it in his hand.

"Fighting something that can think also, is always entirely different." He spoke to him and smiled cheerfully. "However, that is ze reason I choose to do this with you now. I wanted you to understand that ze sword is more than just ze sword. There are to be other forces at play beyond ze blade."

Max nodded to him and thought about how he was taught to fight, it seemed simple, but against a smart opponent or creature it was not simply about how well he could handle the blade on his own, but also to understand what the opponent is thinking.

"So, shall we be getting back to practicing with ze trees and props?" Antoine asked him earnestly, in fear of overdoing his lesson.

Max shook his head and held up his sword towards him. "Once I've been introduced to a greater challenge, I like to see it through to the next." He said feeling stronger because of his loss. Antoine was happy and drew his sword to indicate his eagerness to resume. "Well then, let us to be continuing!"

Antoine and Max did battle with one another for quite some time, in fact, they spent so much time in practice that they completely missed lunch. Not that Max minded much, sure he was tired and hungry, but he was learning a lot, and that tended to give him a giant burst of energy. By the time they both tired themselves out, it was near midafternoon, and even though Max never did win a single bout with Antoine, he felt way better than he had during any previous training session.z

The two resolved to take a long break and rehydrate with some refreshing water. They settled themselves under the giant balls of shade the forest treetops provided. Max leaned backward leaning on his hands, and Antoine sat straight up with the small supply of water between them. It was tiring, but they both felt good about how the training was progressing.

Antoine shook his head for a second and then took a giant drink of water from his container. He let out a small breath and began to speak to Max.

"So, I have been noticing that you are looking to be a little tired." He tried to comment on Max's appearance throughout the day. In truth, he had thought of bringing it up earlier, but felt reserved due to guilt.

Max looked away from his gaze out of shame and sighed. "I have just been worried about a lot of things, that is all. You know, all the responsibilities that I have to take up with my mother gone.  I guess I feel like I am just floating about on a raft without any way to control where I am going."

Antoine nodded and frowned feeling Max's pain. "Oui, Oui, I was worried that I might be working you too hard and I wanted to be making sure…. Look, I know things are to be being hard for you, but I wanted to let you know. I am here for you."

Max smiled warmly in appreciation. "Thanks, Antoine, to be honest, I… you keeping me busy sometimes helps me keep my mind off of things. It makes me feel like I am improving in some way, and it helps the day fly by quicker." He took a container of water and put it to his lips for a drink.

Antoine beamed with pride at Max's words and felt better about everything now that they had had this discussion. "Oui, you are to be improving quite a lot since ze first time you ever picked up ze sword. Make no mistake about that."

Max took a calming breath and looked to the sky much the same way Annie did in their sacred glade. Tiredness was finding him, and he felt sleepy. He thought of his comfortable bed and the table that Nicole sat on.  "Nicole…."

"Damnit!" Max said, abruptly, and jolted up from his sitting position besides Antoine he had just remembered Nicole and his plans for the rest of the day.

Antoine looked up at him with surprise, and blinked, unsure of what the sudden excitement was over.

"Ah, I spent too much time with you, I was supposed to head over to Rotor, to do some studying, and I also had some things I wanted to ask him." He quickly grabbed his container of water that sat before Antoine and turned to him with an apologetic face.

"Oh, do not be worrying about anything." He said calmly with a chuckle. "If anything, I should be apologizing to you for keeping you through lunch and beyond." He took another sip of water from his container and waved Max off happily.

"I'll see you tomorrow for more," Max assured him, racing off towards Rotor's workshop as fast as his exhausted legs could carry him. He knew Rotor would probably not be mad in the slightest, but he did have ulterior motives for being around him today. In truth, Max wanted to make sure to get as much time as he could with him before Rotor had to go and tutor his sister for her academic purposes. Max knew that Rotor teaching him was one thing, but teaching Sonia anything was an entirely different story altogether.

He ran to the door frame of Rotor's workshop and paused to catch his breath, his legs were aching immensely from overexertion. He peered in the door to see Rotor looking up from his bench in front of scattered tools and robot parts.

"Ah, I... I am sorry... I… am…. late." He said through deep breaths while forcing himself into the open doorway. It seemed that Rotor had left the door open because of the brisk summer breeze blowing from outside. He plopped into a comfortable chair and placed his water on the workbench.

` "You know you didn't need to rush here. I wouldn't have been mad at you." Rotor said, pulling up a small wrapped cloth sack with a string around the top, holding it together. "This is for you, somebody heard you missed lunch, and dropped it off here for you." He gave Max a grin. "Just take your time, Sonia can wait a little later for her lessons today, as I know you tend to like coming here to learn."

Max tiredly undid the string, and inside the small sack was some fresh bread with a side of cheese. A note sat atop the thick slice of cheese, and Max didn't even hesitate to pick it up to scan it before eating.

" _I noticed you missed lunch, so I thought I would leave this with Rotor since I know you would be here eventually. You owe me one for this – Annie._ " The note was short but was he ever thankful for her remembering what he did not. He smiled to himself while breaking off a piece of bread, and a piece of the thick orange cheese to eat together.

He took his time eating the bread and cheese, occasionally drinking mouthfuls of water, whenever possible. After he had eaten the entirety of the bread, and about half of the cheese. He elected to wrap the leftovers up to have as a snack for later. Possibly in his hut tonight, or while working on other things.

Rotor watched Max eat his food, and was happy to see him so eager to get to his workshop today. "So, Max, are you ready to get started on today's topic regarding advanced robotic design?" He inquired.

Max took one last mouthful of water, and then wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his coat, a very inappropriate thing, he would typically get scolded for, but Rotor never really cared about his princely demands. "Actually Rote, I was wondering if you could help me with something urgent?"

"Urgent?" Rotor said puzzled, he was not used to anybody coming to him with urgent business so suddenly, sure he had to fix pipes and electricity issues in the village, but Max rushed here to the shop like his life was involved in this urgency.

Max didn't hesitate. He immediately began reaching into the pocket of his royal coat to retrieve Nicole. He pulled her free and settled the closed handheld computer in the middle of the workbench in front of Rotor. "I need to upgrade Nicole, Rotor, I have given it a lot of thought, but her hardware is outdated by almost 20 years, as are her functions…. With the constant advancements in Robotropolis, I am afraid she will be useless in time."

Rotor looked at the small computer and shook his head. "I don't know Max, I suppose we could wipe out her A.I. program and try and create a new one on better hardware, but I have never written an A.I. before, so I don't even know where to begin."

"That's not what I mean Rotor, I just want to upgrade the Nicole A.I. and functions. I know that Nicole has the basic capacity to learn and that the wealth of information she already has from the past 15-year fight with Robotnik would be too valuable to lose." He leaned forward and looked at Nicole's outer case; much the same way Rotor was doing presently.

Rotor pondered for a while until his head felt hot from the blood rushing to his brain. "I… that might be possible. If we segregated the A.I. data from Nicole and installed it into advanced hardware, we could then install new functions around the A.I. data." He scratched his head; it was a weird idea.

"I… well, I am kind of having trouble understanding what you mean," Max admitted sheepishly to Rotor, who nodded back to him.

"I guess what I am trying to say, is that if we extract the Nicole A.I. and put it to more advanced hardware, we can then install better features, and software to her. Because her A.I. has the capacity to learn, it will make up for code we cannot write. Essentially, my theory is, that if we install what she is now, to the new advanced component, it will give Nicole's A.I. more room to climb." He knew he could be complicated, but he hoped that Max was on the same page with him at this point, because he was not sure how to state it more directly for him.

Max nodded, understanding what Rotor was surmising at this point. "Is there any risk to Nicole if we do this?" He asked, he already knew Nicole's risk analysis scan from last night, but he was eager to hear Rotor's opinion.

He looked at Max, surprised of the concern he was showing, but understood the loss of a valuable tool. He shrugged, "There is always risk when you do these kinds of things. I know Nicole is an advanced A.I for her time, but I have no clue what new hardware will do. To be honest, the biggest problem would be finding suitable hardware for her to install to It is not like there are advanced A.I circuit boards lying around that aren't damaged, and swatbots have meager A.I. comparative to what it seems you are looking for."

Max pondered and eventually walked over to Rotor's safe that he was using to study roboticization, in hopes of reversing the process for Bunnie and all of the citizens of Mobius. He began to punch in the combination, and Rotor started to piece together what he was thinking before he even had the safe open.

"I… I dunno if that is such a good idea, Max." He shifted slightly and awaited what he knew was coming.

Max reached inside and pulled out a small circuit board with different wires attached and silver chips. "I knew I saw this the last time you were in here. It looks like an advanced chip with CPU/Motherboard combination."

"Well… not exactly, Max, it is something else altogether…" Rotor spoke feeling somewhat weird about this. "In actuality, it is the brain of a roboticized citizen… When somebody is roboticized, all of their organic pieces become that of hardware and metal. I can say that it performs multiple functions that most computers require in several parts." He took the chip from Max and examined it. "Whoever this belonged to has already been wiped from existence. If this chip is damaged or wiped clean in some way; whoever the person was inside the chip is destroyed.

Max shuttered uneasily at the haunting thought, in a way just touching it was horrifying, but he decided to press the subject regardless. "If the chip is functional, is it possible to an install Nicole's A.I. to it?"

Rotor sighed and shook his head. "I… I think it might be possible, I just don't know the actual and moral-ethical consequences for doing such a thing… In truth, I was using it to study the anatomy of roboticized citizens and was finished with it quite some time ago. When it had been given to me by Uncle Chuck, it had already been wiped clean, so whoever's consciousness once resided in it has already been snuffed out for one reason or another."

Max looked at him knowing that uncle Chuck often scavenged parts and Intel for them to use. The deep conversation was leading him to more disturbing thoughts. He hesitated for a minute, but then resigned himself to his curiosity. "So, what happens if we were to install that blank chip into somebody, and then de-roboticize them?"

Rotor was caught off guard by the question, but he figured it was pointless not to answer since it had already come to this point. "I rightly don't know, but I would guess that if that were to happen, they would be a soulless living husk, I don't even think they would be able to breathe on their own, let alone learn anything. They would be the absolute deadest of brain-dead." He took off his yellow hat and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"So that means the chip is useless unless we do something with it?" Max stated bluntly, picking up Nicole. "It is a hard choice, but you can't say you aren't curious either, and if we don't do something, Nicole will be a paperweight sometime soon."

Rotor looked in disbelief at his candor on the subject but nodded. "Alright, fine, but if something dangerous happens, we destroy Nicole." He put out his hand for Max to shake it.

Max hesitantly looked at Rotor and understood exactly why he had to make this sort of deal, but he still feared to lose his keepsake. His mind traveled back to this morning, and then to the words, Bunnie had encouraged him with. He knew that if things went wrong, he had Rotor to help him.

"No risk, no reward." He stated grasping Rotor's hand tightly and shook it, "Just promise me, that if we need to burn her, you'll do it."

Rotor laughed and nodded in agreement, as he began to get his tools and pry open Nicole's case, revealing the hardware of the tiny computer. "What I will do, is transfer her A.I. directly to the advanced chip, and then afterwards I will take all the things from my computer. The advanced programs, the data, and information I have collected over the past years, and then install them to the advanced chip. She should maintain 100% functionality with her old data intact, but be given a full breadth of new information and software to utilize when needed."

Max liked the sound of that, and let Rotor get to work on Nicole, organizing and transferring things as needed. What once was a relatively organized space, became littered with tools and wires. The scene was exciting to Max, who felt as if he was performing some science experiment with Rotor. However, the creeping feeling of guilt that at one point and time the chip used to be somebody…. He wondered if they were doing something wrong, but thought that perhaps whoever it once was would want this, if they were already gone, maybe they'd want them to make Nicole powerful to destroy Robotnik. Then again, perhaps he was fooling himself into thinking he was justified, but in actuality, he was just a monster desecrating the life of somebody with no name.

Either way, it was too late now to get cold feet, the decision had been made, and the process of transferring everything was underway. Max sat at the table, and looked to Rotor, who apparently had a look of guilt on his face as well, they both knew they were probably doing _something_ wrong.

"I am sorry Rotor… for talking you into this" Max spoke softly, feeling the guilt in full effect.

Rotor shook his head "Nah, I wanted to do something with this chip for a long time, I just never had an idea, or the heart to do so. I am just glad that we can put it to something so useful. It is not like we are turning the chip into a washing machine or something." He reached down and took a sip of water that he had lying around his desk. "No sense in feeling guilty… he…. she…. they…... were long gone before we ever had the chip, and I know for a fact that if it were me, I would want to be useful to the world after my passing, no matter how small it might be."

Max nodded at the sentiment and decided Rotor had a point. The two just stared out the door contemplatively in thought.  A few moments past and they could hear the sounds of loud calling, as it broke their concentration. Nicole's transfer was taking quite a bit of time, so Max decided to see who was approaching. He exited the doorway and looked at the scenery. The sun was that familiar orange color once again, and it was apparent that Sonia had been forgotten in all of this, but Max didn't think she'd be complaining about it.

He looked to the left and saw Bunnie approaching the door frame with something in her hand. "Sugah!" She exclaimed loudly, waving her metal arm for him to come closer to her. He walked towards her and greeted her happily. "Hey, Bunnie, what's up?" He spoke to her, not sure what was going on.

She looked at him and extended her organic hand, giving him the paper she was grasping. "It's an urgent message from uncle Chuck. We need to head on out to Robotropolis to meet with him tomorrow." Her voice sounded somewhat worried, since usually if uncle Chuck wanted an immediate meeting, it was about something awful.

Max opened the piece of paper that had been delivered via carrier pigeon, and read the enclosed note. " _Something awful is happening in Robotropolis. Robotnik is up to something big; we need to get together to discuss the details. Things are looking dangerous. Please be careful due to increased security."_ Max reached the end of the note and felt somewhat sick in his stomach. "You don't think he's trying to pull the same stunt as before, do you?

Bunnie shook her head, "I hope not sugar because if he is doing something that dangerous, we have to find a way to put a stop to it once and for all. I admittedly feel worried bout' this, because of what happened last time…. With you and Annie now doing your part, I just feel like I have so much more to lose."

Max leaned in to give her a hug, which she accepted gratefully, maintaining a gentle squeeze around his torso. "Thanks, Sugah." She said boldly breaking free of the hug and regaining her tough composure once more. She felt grateful that Max reassured her without drawing much attention to her understandable fear. With that, she turned towards the direction of the dining hut, since she had dinner to prepare again tonight. "Y'all missed lunch, so you better not miss dinner!" She chastised him in a motherly fashion before she set off.

Max smiled watching her walk away from him, and he turned to see Rotor standing in the doorway now. Once he turned around and reached Rotor he handed him the note uncle Chuck had written. "Bad news as usual," Max said entering the workshop, he could see Nicole was unplugged and turned off.

"She's ready… but the bad news is, I cannot get her to turn on. I fear she might be broken or incompatible with the hardware." Rotor commented looking disappointed, but he also knew they were in uncharted waters with this one. "Sorry, Max."

Max shook his head with a frown and picked up Nicole. "I will mess with her later. Maybe she just needs some tampering with or something. Do you mind if I borrow one of your toolkits in case I need to work on her manually?"

Rotor shook his head, "I prefer you didn't, we can work on her tomorrow in the shop after we rendezvous with uncle Chuck. I have a better understanding of the parts, and if she is indeed not broken already, you playing with her components might destroy her."

Max saw the wisdom in this and just elected to take Nicole into his pocket and pick up the left-over cheese sack he'd left on the workbench. He thanked Rotor for all of the help and promised him he would be back with Nicole tomorrow. With this, he left and headed towards the mess hall for supper. He reached the doors relatively quickly, and let himself in. It was a lot quieter and emptier than it usually was. The only person even eating was Sonia, who had a wide grin on her face.

"I dunno what you did bro, but you got me out of boring old lectures from Rotor!" She was pleased as even, just like he figured she would be. He made his way over and sat across from her.

"Hah, I see your impatience finally wore everybody down, so they let you eat before everybody arrived." He teased her.

"Nah, I know we usually all have dinner together like it's some special thing, but Annie is spending time with Antoine. I think they are gathering and chopping wood to restock the supply." Sonia took a cup of tea that had been brewed for her and drink it fast.

"Whoah, slow down there sis, just because you can run fast, doesn't mean you need to drink quickly." He chuckled at her behavior, and she just ignored him.

"Gotta be the best at everything I can, ya know. I'll be the hero, and you be the square ruler." She stretched out after setting her empty cup aside, and placed her hands behind her head as if she were the coolest person in existence.

"Glad Y'all could join for dinner sugah. I was worried no one would show up for dinner time." Bunnie entered with a plate of chicken mixed with rice and vegetables and placed it before Max.

"Cookin again?" Max inquired.

"Aww, well Antoine wanted to spend some time with Annie, and some chores needed doin, so I just told Antoine I would cover for him tonight." She took a seat with the siblings and looked at Max.

'Tomorrow we're headin out round' 5 in the morning to be under cover of darkness when we meet Chuck." She explained while Max and Sonia listened to her.

Max looked at Bunnie, and then to Sonia who was sitting there quietly. "So, you up for waking up that early sis?" He spoke to her directly, catching her off guard.

"Uh, well uhm, Yeah! No prob!' She exclaimed trying to sound like this was par for the course for her.

Bunnie was kind of surprised that Max extended the invite to her, but she didn't protest, as dangerous as Robotropolis had become recently, she hadn't seen her great uncle in quite some time.

Max ate his meal in silence, feeling that his invitation was the right thing to do, she couldn't stay a kid forever, and perhaps it was time for her to be the hero that she always desired to be. After his meal was finished, he bid farewell to Bunnie and said goodnight to his little sister. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day for everyone, but even though he had spent a lot of time exhausted and the hours were growing later. He had one thing he desired to do before heading off to his hut.

He walked quickly and began tapping on Annie's hut door, hoping that she had come back from her chores with Antoine. The darkness inside indicated that she hadn't, but it was worth a try none the less. He felt around in his pockets but found no paper or writing utensil to leave a note for her. "Damn..." He said aloud feeling frustrated with this, but after a second or two he had a brilliant idea and drew his sword. He began to lightly trace the fine sharp edge of the blade alone the dirt until he had a simple note. " _Thanks for lunch."_ With that down, he felt good about himself and walked off towards his hut for the night.

Max tiredly entered his hut, latching the door behind him. His boots were kicked off, and his coat and sword dropped to the floor in the usual fashion. He placed Nicole in her usual spot by his bed along with his cheese sack. The light of his lamp was illuminating that corner of the room casting shadows of himself along the wall. He yawned loudly out of pure tiredness and sat on the edge of the bed with his bare feet touching the floor.

"Sorry, Nicole." He said aloud. "I didn't mean to break you." His fingers glided along the screen, wiping some of the dust off of it from Rotors workbench. "How does technology manage to attract so much dust?" He shook his head, what did it matter.

The computer lay silent, when suddenly he noticed one of her indicator lights blinking red, and then after a while yellow.

"Hm?! Nicole?!" He shouted, as the screen suddenly turned on revealing moving data and fast scrolling text.

"Nicole!" He repeated even louder, not sure of what else to do. The loud sound of her name caused the blinking light to flash green, and the screen to stabilize.

"R-EEE-REBOOT-BOOT SUCCESSFUL.

ANALYSING DAMAGE TO SYSTEM…."

"NO DAMAGE DE-DETECTED…"

"ANALYZING SYSSSSSTEM DATA…"

"DATA NNOT- NOT IN SYNCH WITH LAST KNOWN DATA...- "

"SY-SYNCHING…"

Nicole's robotic voice was erratic and broken, but she sounded like she was accomplishing something important.

"Nicole are you ok?" Max pleaded not sure what else to do, this sort of thing never happened before, and needless to say, he was scared.

"M-MA-MAX IS THAT YOU?" the robotic voice stated while breaking up its words.

"Huh?" What kind of question was that? He wasn't sure what to make of that, but he decided to respond directly. "I-it's me Nicole, its Maximillian, remember?' he answered her nervously.

"E-X EX-EX EXCESS POWER TO SYSTEM, SYSTEM SYS…"

Max grabbed Nicole and moved to the makeshift outlet that Rotor made. It provided the huts with power through a storage unit that collected energy from the water wheel. He took the connector he occasionally used to power Nicole when she was having issues with her internal source of energy and jammed it into her charging slot. "Release your stored-up energy, Nicole!" He commanded her, knowing that if the energy had nowhere to go, it would probably be a disaster.

With that Nicole expelled the energy into a surge that shot current through the socket. It reached the power storage box and shorted it. The lamp dimmed, and all of the power in his hut was lost. The only light left was the light of Nicole's screen illuminating the darkness.

Max sat in darkness looking at the glowing screen settle, and the usual user interface returned to it bringing him slight relief.

"System stabilizing…. No damage was done to the system."

"Analyzing data… No loss of data..."

"New data detected…”

“Querying the installation of new recognized software. "

"Nicole… what happened?" Max asked her in a whisper, while he watched the bars move on her screen, installing the files Rotor had put on her earlier.

The computer sat silent for a moment and then began to dim its lights. "The chip that you installed my A.I. matrix onto has an independent energy source that doesn't require charging… "

"So, so what?" he said, not understanding where she was going with this.

"I assume that the stored energy interfered with my ability to boot. When you attempted to activate me by signaling my A.I. name I was able to Identify you and ask you to adequately remove the excess energy so that I could stabilize my system." Nicole answered him in detail.

"I… I am glad you're ok Nicole. I was scared that I broke you." He said to her, lying back on his bed, feeling overwhelmed with tiredness. The sudden relief that Nicole was A-Okay coupled with the fact he had exerted himself entirely on so little sleep brought him completely to the mercy of his drowsiness.

Nicole sat there, not answering him at all, as the many numbers of installation tasks she was performing continued. Max didn't say anything to her, but stared blankly at her light-emitting screen, falling in and out of conscious thought as he did so.

"You… almost destroyed me…" Nicole said in her usual calm way, without a hint of inflection in her monotonous voice.

For some reason, this sentence made him feel cold, and he got the shivers. "I… I suppose I could have…" Max mustered what little energy he had left to say that. He lied silently for a minute, and when no response from Nicole came, he turned over to face away from her. "Goodnight Nicole…" His tired, sad voice came to her speakers.

The night ticked on, and after an hour passed, and Max had fallen into slumber, Nicole finally gave her response. "Goodnight…. Max."


	2. Foreboding Danger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found time to upload chapter 2, so I am posting it here. I personally like this chapter a lot, so to those of you that enjoyed chapter 1, here you go.
> 
> As always if you want more of the story quicker, you may go here. 
> 
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12522234/1/Taking-up-the-Mantle
> 
> Have a wonderful day everybody, and please enjoy yourself.

The room was that of blackness. Not a single light pierced the shadows of the hut. Max turned left, and then right. The springtime heat was ramping up, and its discomfort was rousing him from his slumber, and he felt under-rested like he typically did as of late. He groggily sat up, the covers falling off of his bare chest, and his eyes adjusting to the darkness. It was humorous for him to think that his ancestors were once nocturnal, but generation after generation of shifting to a diurnal pattern, caused his eyesight to become poorer in the dark. He looked up towards his roof covered in shadow and could hear the faint pounding of rain beating against it. He sat there silently for several minutes, piecing together all of the weird thoughts that entered his mind, while the soft sound of rain pattering against his shelter brought him a strange sense of comfort.

"Ugh... What time is it?" He asked to himself, feeling a tad more awake than when he first began sitting there. A sudden rapping began to rattle his door, jolting him from his grogginess, and he removed himself from his bed, grabbing into the darkness for his pants. When he did manage to find them sprawled on the floor, he quickly put them on his feet and pulled them up. Buckling the belt while he maneuvered silently to the door to open it. It was unusual for a visitor to come knocking at this time, even though he didn't know the exact time, he was sure that it was nowhere close to six am. "I hope everything is ok." he murmured to himself and opened the front door to his dark hut.

Standing before him was the barely visible silhouette of his younger sister, her hand rubbing her arm shyly. He looked down and then remembered that his hut had lost all power from last night's emergency. "Sis? What time is it? Is everything ok with you?" He was concerned by her early visit, but at the same time glad that she was here to inform him of the hour.

"Why's it so dark? You think you'd turn on the light?" Sonia said moving under his door frame to keep from getting even wetter.

"The power went out for me last night. I need to have Rotor take a look at it later on today." He moved aside giving her room to come in a bit.

"Oh…" She responded somewhat hesitantly and then shook her head. "It's about three in the morning." She finally answered him, and at this point, Max was starting to piece together why she was here. The mission into Robotropolis this morning was probably scaring her, though she would never admit to that. She had a massive sense of pride, and it was perhaps agonizing to her to come to him for comfort.

He smiled down at her through the darkness, and let out a small laugh. "That's funny sis; I was just thinking about coming to see you."

"W-what?" She said off guard, not expecting to hear him say that. She paused her speech to give him time to tell what he needed to, the falling rain beating on the dirt out front of them.

"Well, of course, you see. I have been feeling kind of anxious about going into Robotropolis this morning. In fact, going there always makes me a bit on edge, but because you're coming this time, it is making me feel a little better. I am not as fast or as skilled as you or dad, so, I was on my way to thank you for coming today." His voice was gentle and earnest, speaking some things that he believed to be true. He knew that Sonia had the talent in her to do many things he could only dream to accomplish, she just needed to see it.

"Oh, you're such a liar bro…" She said giving him a playful punch on the arm. "But thanks…" She turned, walking out the door. "You wanna go have some breakfast?" She continued to speak, wanting to keep the mushy stuff between them to a minimum.

Max nodded, "Sure, I will get dressed, and head on over to make us up some pancakes. How does that sound?" She nodded and laughed. "I didn't know you were naked bro, that's really gross."

Max frowned feeling a little annoyed, but he waved her off "Yeah, Yeah, if you want those pancakes, I suggest you be more respectful to the pancake makerer." He said intentionally improper, to make himself sound silly to her ears. She couldn't help but giggle, "Hurry it up bro, I'm starving!" With that, she turned and disappeared into the darkness to await his fluffy disks of deliciousness.

"Well, there goes my shower." He complained to himself, as he turned inside and started to dress in his princely attire. His eyes scanned the darkness until they settled on the barely viable end table. He maneuvered over and picked up Nicole in his hands, pressing a button that causing her screen to illuminate the darkness surrounding him. He began to read the screen text slowly, scrolling down as he went.

SYSTEM ADVANCEMENT STATUS: UNDETERMINED

INSTALLATION OF PROGRAMS: 100% COMPLETE

NEW DATA CHECKED 34%

POWER STATUS: STABLE, SELF SUFFICIENT.

AFFECTED PROGRAMS:

Scanning capability upgraded.

Laser strength capacity increased. HARDWARE UPGRADE REQUIRED!

Cypher recognition/reading capacity upgraded.

Hacking utility upgraded.

Advanced decryption installed.

Remote access installed. HARDWARE UPGRADE REQUIRED!

Advanced A.I. protections installed.

Audio/video recording software upgraded.

Self-destruct sequence directive installed.

Max's eyes stopped at the last one, and he pushed a button to be rid of it, never did he ever want it to come to that, especially with his treasured heirloom.

UNINSTALL: Y/N

Y

UNINSTALLING….

Self-destruct sequence directive data wiped.

Max scrolled to the next screen and was met with text asking for his confirmation. He eyed the text carefully making sure he understood the full context of it.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RELINQUISH CONTROL TO THE A.I? CONSTRUCT? IT WILL INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY AND FUNCTIONS BY AN EXPONENTIAL AMOUNT. **WARNING** : THIS CANNOT BE UNDONE, AND A.I. JUDGEMENT WILL TAKE PRECEDENCE TO THAT OF THE USER.

Y/N

Max remained silent, letting the text sink into his brain, in truth, he knew what this meant, and he could see both the advantages and disadvantages of this. He knew that relinquishing control to the A.I. would make her an unknown variable concerning what it was and was not willing to do on command. However, he knew that if he were to give it control of all of its functions, it could operate independently of his authority, and possibly save his life, or think up solutions that he could not. He took his finger and keyed in his answer, knowing that Nicole would need to be the best she could be to fight the new challenges that lie ahead.

Y

ACCEPTED…

RELINQUISHING FULL CONTROL TO A.I.

….

He closed the small computer, knowing he had to make his darling sister pancakes before she started complaining and harassing him to no end. He pocketed Nicole, and shut the door of his hut, walking out into the darkness. The wet rain hitting him in the face as he walked, it was not so rough as to drench him, but it was hard enough to make little pounding sounds on the dirt. He could see the lights in the mess hall floating in the blackness of the sleepy village, and couldn't wait to get to eat some warm food. Today was going to be a long day for everybody. He was confident of that.

Opening the door, he was greeted by his wet sister sitting at one of the empty tables. She had apparently turned on the burner and whipped up the mix before he'd even got there. He was surprised at how wet she was for the amount of rain that was coming in. It brought him to the realization, that she had been out in the rain, probably hesitant to approach his hut so early.

"Hey bro, everything's ready for ya to get to work." She said leaning forward, watching him enter the kitchen.

"I see nature gave you a shower this morning; I should thank her." He taunted her playfully, causing her to frown and stick her tongue out at him. "Shut up bro, we both know you're the smelly one here." He shook his head and began to line the pan with a bit of batter, adding some fruits to the mix, to give his sister a nice, un-bland experience. He honestly never minded cooking, in fact, he found it relaxing more often than not. He flipped the cake with one hand and allowed the other side to cook. "Man, I think you are really gonna love these pancakes, whattaya think sis? Should I drop the whole king thing and be a chef?"

She could hear his boasting from the kitchen since it was only the two of them that were there at this hour, and while she usually would have made fun of him, she couldn't deny that she loved when he cooked things for her. Whenever she needed something, he would make it for her, and it always seemed tasty to her. "Hah, maybe you should, and besides, a hero like me is gonna need a personal chef." She outstretched her fingers and examined them.

"Somehow I figured you'd agree with me." He stated, bringing out a plate of berry pancakes, with the addition of some warm strawberries, with melted strawberry jam on top. It looked scrumptious, hot, and smelled like fresh strawberries. He placed it in front of her "Bon Appétit." He said in the likeness of Antoine and walked away to fix himself up something to eat.

"Thanks!" She said elated, cutting into the pancakes with the knife and fork, that she'd already prepared on the table for herself. The pancakes were piping hot, not burnt, and tasted like delicious berries, specifically strawberries. "Mmmm, this is soooo good" She cooed taking massive chunks of pancakes into her mouth. It wasn't long until Max came out with his own set of pancakes, with a mixture of eggs and sausage. He placed his dish across from her and offered her anything she desired from his plate.

"MMff No fanks bro, I'm… mm, I am eatin." She spoke impolitely with her mouth full, he left the room and reentered with two cups filled with freshly squeezed juices. "Whoah, Whoah, you gotta pace yourself, you don't want to choke before the day I can make you a second helping," Max complained showing his typical concern. She swallowed her food, and took several massive gulps from her cup, letting out a burp, and sheepishly hiding her mouth behind her hand. "Sorry…"  She spoke sheepishly for making a pig of herself.

Max started to laugh at her sheepishness all of the sudden and dug into his meal. That's what I like about you Sonia, no matter what you do you're always cute." He took a sip of his juice.

"I am not!" She became hotheaded once more, forgetting her previous embarrassment that quickly. "I just… do what I feel is necessary, alright!" She crossed her arms in defiance.

"Yeah, well, I do know one thing that I am better than you at, and I always will be." He spoke with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" She looked at him with disinterest, knowing he could never compete with her skills.

Without much of a word he put his cup of juice down and wiped his mouth politely with a handkerchief that once lied on the table. He leaned back, and then, in one strong push, he let out the loudest burp she had ever heard in her entire life. It echoed through the empty hall, and her face froze in shock that she had indeed just been bested. "Jeez, bro, that's…. disgusting," She said trying to contain the laughing fit that was on the horizon."

Max began to laugh hard and took another drink in between laughs. "Ann and I used to have burping contests when we were younger; she never did beat me." He grinned with pride recalling the memory. "You don't need to be embarrassed when it's just us here." He reassured her, taking a mixture of eggs and meat into his mouth.

She finished her cup of juice and wiped her mouth on her arm. She liked seeing the impolite relaxed version of her brother. It was comforting to her in a way. She always understood his need to be mature, graceful, and respectable, but she liked seeing him be at ease like she was most of the time. "The grossest, but definitely the loudest." She conceded her defeat, much to his amusement.

Their conversation remained silly and lighthearted, until roughly three forty in the morning, when other freedom fighters began wearily filing in for food, and to discuss the rendezvous with Chuck. Max cemented himself in the kitchen and started cooking batches of pancakes, and other breakfast items for the group to eat. Eggs, bacon, sausage, piled on plates for everybody to take from, his sister helped him carry everything out. The team was now settled in for breakfast.

"Oui these are quite delicious" Antoine piped up, piling a bunch of meat onto his plate.

Ann took food from the central plate and thanked Max politely for making it. Even if she would never admit it, Max did cook delicious things, so yummy in fact, that it sometimes made her jealous.

"Mah stars, does it feel good to have an ol helpin of pancakes for breakfast, on a day like this," Bunnie said passing a plate to Rotor, who quietly ate without much conversation. He was often aloof, but only because he was always thinking of new ideas to implement into the village.

Max took a seat by Ann, and across from Rotor, "Hey Rote? " Max broke his concentration, causing him to look up from his grave thoughts.

"What's up, Max?" He set his pad and pencil down.

"Uhm, I was wondering if you could help me with a few things? Last night a power surge overloaded the electricity supplied to my hut, and I need somebody to fix it."

Rotor scratched his head somewhat dumbfounded. "Hm… that is odd; I put a failsafe surge protection limit in there to keep it from burning out. It must have been some jolt if it was able to break the power supplied to your hut. I can fix it for you today, assuming the damage isn't extensive." He said rubbing his nose a bit.

"That's not all, Nicole came on last night, and she had something I wanted you to check out." He pulled Nicole from his pocket and revealed her screen to Rotor, who seemed excited that their little experiment had come around to working.

"Wow! This is awesome!" He grabbed Nicole from Max, and scrolled through the text to check the upgrade notes, and immediately started jotting down the needed hardware upgrades to his notepad.

"What do you think Rotor?" Max looked at Rotor with excitement in his own eyes; it was very contagious between the two of them.

"Well, what I can do is skip the meeting with Chuck, and you can take Nicole since she seems to be in working order, and while you are away I will fix your hut power source, and then build the upgrades from parts I have in the workshop. I can see precisely what hardware is required from the schematic." He showed max the screen that showed relevant installation parts for an amplified laser, and remote hacking signal emitter.

Max took ahold of Nicole and looked at the screen somewhat confused. "That's not exactly…" He started saying while flipping through the screens looking for his confirmation to relinquish control to the A.I. There was no indication, or record log showing such a process was confirmed.

"Is something the matter Max?" Rotor questioned full of energy and filling his mouth with food, eager to get to work on his new projects for the day.

"I… Nothing… I was just wondering if the job would be hard, is all." He lied, feeling somewhat sheepish, maybe he imagined such a thing, he was tired this morning. He shook his head, he just wanted Rotor's opinion, because he respected it, but maybe it was just a case of tired hallucinations. After all, Nicole logged anything and everything that took place on the system.

"Nah it should only take most, or half of the day to fix your power, that is assuming I have all the parts needed in my inventory. It might take a week or two to build the necessary components to upgrade Nicole physically." He explained with high enthusiasm.

Max was about to respond to him when he noticed Bunnie stand up to begin deliberations on the mission taking place; his attention turned to her as did everybody else's."

"Alright Y'all, I have been thinking that since we are only going to be meetin with ol uncle Chuck, we shouldn't have a large group go to meet with him, and since Max and Sonia are already set to go, I'm thinkin that maybe Annie should be the only other person accompanyin you two." Max and Annie looked surprised, and Sonia looked ever the more excited. They had never been allowed to traverse into Robotropolis on their own before, and it was Sonia's first time going there.

"Mom, I uh, I don't object but…" She started to speak, admittedly a little scared of the prospect.

Max stood up, pulling Bunnie's attention away from Annie "Alright, let's finish up and head out as soon as we can, the sooner we leave, the sooner get there under cover of darkness." Annie stared at him blankly unsure of what to really say to his immediate acceptance of this. His sister, on the other hand, stood up with a jump and looked at the two of them while tapping her foot. "Well, I'm already done, so what're we waitin for?"

Annie, just resigned herself, not really getting it, but decided she'd bother her mother about it when she returned. Max looked to Bunnie and could see the concern on her face, but was guessing that since this mission was so easy, that it would be a perfect opportunity to give them all adult responsibilities. Whether he liked it or not, the three of them were all teenagers and would face even greater perils in the future, with or without a guiding hand.

"We will be fine, don't worry." He reassured Bunnie, as she gave him a warm smile in return, she felt she could depend on him, just as he felt he could depend on Sonia and Annie. Antoine put his hand on Max's shoulder, adding resolve to his confidence. "Oui, we are to be believing in you three."

Antoine removed his hand from Max, walking towards his daughter, and hugged her, and a kiss on the cheek, to which she did not protest for once. "Be careful my daughter, we are to be being in love with you…." "Be safe hun…" Bunnie chimed in at the same time.

Rotor smiled standing up "Imma get to work." He reassured Max. Max looked over to Annie, who was worried and was about to comfort her when annoyed complaining started kicking up from the door entrance. "C'mon you guys are waistin time, let's go and get this info already!"

Annie rolled her eyes and walked out into the rain. Max placed Nicole into his coat pocket and followed suit into the darkness and falling rain. They met out front, and Sonia looked at them. "So, what're we doin first?" She asked.

"I need to stop by my hut and get my things," Annie said to the two, as they started walking in the direction of her hut. Max nodded to her, "No problem, let's grab it and go." He said patiently. Sonia was still acting relatively impatient with the delay, but she held her tongue, she had never been on a mission before. She knew that Max used his sword, but wasn't really sure what Annie could need, since she never really followed her around, or saw her carry anything significant.

After about a minute they found themselves outside of Annie's hut. "Wait here a minute." She said, and she ran towards the door to open it, leaving Max and Sonia to wait outside in the rain for her.

With that, Annie disappeared into her dark hut, and after a minute or two came out with a satchel bag wrapped around her shoulder that slung across her chest to her right side. In her right hand was a crude laser pistol type weapon. It was something Tails had made for her from old SWATBOT laser parts. Its crudeness in looks concealed its excellent craftsmanship. Ever since Tails found his knack for mechanical genius, he spent much of his time building armaments, and defenses to aid in the war against Robotnik.

Annie placed the gun into her satchel, which contained various things to aid them. Mild explosives, smoke screens to circumvent spy eyes, an emergency first aid kit. Annie was always well prepared, to the point that sometimes Max felt she was going a bit overboard.

"Got everything?" Was all Max could say, to which she nodded in confirmation. Sonia was impressed by Annie, hell she thought that she was mega cool at this point. It wasn't typical for Annie to walk about armed to the teeth, but now that Sonia could see it, it brought out admiration inside of her, for the older girl.

The three of them walked until Knothole disappeared behind them, Sonia looked up at the light rain falling on them, the darkness of the night still concealing them, and making it difficult to see. Annie pulled out a flashlight from her bag, to help light their way through the blackened forest. Sonia looked to Annie, wanting to tell her how cool she thought she was, but she held her tongue, in fear of coming across as doting. Annie noticed her looking, and smiled at her."

"Sup?" Annie said not wanting to scare Sonia into not talking to her.

"Uhm, well, uh, where did you learn to use that…" She wasn't really sure of how to say it without feeling awkward, but Annie gave her an understanding nod. "It's just what I am good at, Max, Tails, and Rotor make, I know how to destroy. Hell, ever since I was a little girl I have had good aim." She thought back to the earlier days of her childhood.

Max looked at them both and nodded. "I remember when we had that rock throwing contest, you didn't miss a single shot. Then, when you turned eleven you got that slingshot, man I would swear you'd never miss." He was well aware of her aptitude for hitting distant targets and didn't shy away from praising her.

Annie chuckled feeling slightly embarrassed and turned back to Sonia. "Yep it's true Max could never hit the broad side of a barn, and I could probably shoot a flea off of his nose."

Sonia let out a laugh at her brother's expense, as he just rolled his eyes the same way Annie had earlier. "So much for complementing you, sheesh."

His annoyance made the two of them laugh even harder, causing him even more frustration. "Great, now there's two of them every mission." He complained under his breath.

The three walked and chatted throughout the long hike until they reached the border of the forest. The scent of disgusting pollution and smog began to overpower the serene smell of nature and fallen rain. Annie turned off her flashlight, and the three got silent, peering out from the bushes to the decaying necropolis, which was once the proud city of Mobotropolis. Sonia was at a loss for words, seeing the disgusting blight on the land for the first time in her young life. She was aware of its existence, but seeing it…. smelling it, was an entirely different thing.

"Ok… we go in together," Max whispered, as Annie nodded, taking his hand, he, in turn, took his sister's hand, and the three of them began to sneak towards the nightmarish city. Their hand-holding was not typical, but in truth, Max and Annie were overly cautious because of the lack of a veteran Freedom Fighter. Sonia being here made them want to take even more precautions. If they were always connected, they could never be split apart.

By the time they had maneuvered their way through the darkness into the city limits, they were greeted with a disgusting layer of thick pollution that covered the ground level of the city. It made it so difficult to see that the three of them could only tell who was who if they remained near one another. The three ended up ducking behind an old decrepit building, to catch a minute a collect themselves.

"This... stinky cloud is making it hard… to see" Sonia whispered continuing to hold to her brother. Max continued to hold Annie's hand to keep them all connected, and she looked at him for a second, then waved some of the fog from her face. "Ugh, I can't see shit, what is this?" She let out a cough but tried to keep the volume muffled with her free hand.

Max let go of Annie's hand for a second and pulled out Nicole. "Nicole please scan the area, what is this fog? Where can we meet with great uncle Chuck?"

"Scanning Max." The computer stated and displayed a map of their location. "The fog is pollution that seems to be the result of some high energy source, much greater than that of any previously recorded energy source within the city." The computer scanned again. "Chucks usual meeting location is south of here, follow this street down several blocks, and make a right. From there, Chuck usually comes to greet Freedom Fighters, and take them to an undisclosed location."

Annie was happy to see Nicole coming in handy, and Sonia grabber her brothers arm to pull him. "C'mon we need to get moving, staying in one area is bad news." He nodded to her, and re-grabbed Annie's hand, while holding Nicole in the other. "Ok, but don't let go of my arm." He instructed Sonia, and she gave an understanding nod to it. The three of them made their way through the rain, the thick fog, and the darkness. Their eyes were taking in the derelict that was one the home of their parents. The place looked like a rotting corpse, dust, decay, strife, and misery were the only story this city could tell at this point.

The three of them stayed huddled together, moving from building to building, when the approaching sound of metal footsteps could be heard echoing through the fog. Unable to see a foot in front of them, they got down low, hiding in a gutted building that was indiscernible from the next. Annie used her free hand to open her satchel and pull the gun loose from its storage, with her thumb she flicked a switch, which elicited a light charging sound. She peered her head out of the broken window, but could only see darkness and fog. Her hand was shaking while holding the weapon, and Max tensed up while looking out the window himself.

Sonia stayed hidden, both her hands clasped around her brother's arm, she was afraid, they all were. Max and Annie always had a veteran with them whenever they went on missions, but now they felt like they were on an island lost at sea. Max's hand tightened around Annie's and brought her a slight comfort to know somebody was there with her. She gently squeezed his hand back, letting him know the same. They watched silently, waiting for the worst, the metal footsteps approached moving closer to their location, then they stopped.

SECTOR CLEAR, NO DETECTION OF INTRUDERS. MOVING TO PATROL EAST SIDE OF CITY. FINISH TIME, APPROXIMATELY FOUR HOURS….

The SWATBOT's droning echoed through the air, causing Max and Annie to duck behind the building wall beneath the window opening. They were hiding, but it was better than causing a stir. After roughly a minute, the incessant clapping of the robotic marching on stone was entirely gone, leaving them with the ghostly silence that plagued them before it had appeared.

"That was…" Annie started to say, powering down her weapon and returning it to her satchel. "Scary…" Max finished her sentence, taking a deep breath of relief. Sonia shook her head and stood up letting go of her brother. "I wasn't that scared… I just… didn't want you guys to worry." She tried her usual bravado, and Max just played along with it. "You sure kept me calm." He said to her, rustling up her hair.

She let go of him and angrily started fixing it with her own hands. "Not the time bro, can we please just find great uncle Chuck?" She reminded them of what they were there for.

Max nodded in agreement, and let go of Annie's hand, which she promptly placed in her pocket. Max looked down at Nicole and began to speak to her once more. "Nicole, scan the area for great uncle Chuck."

"Affirmative." She responded, and began to scan the area for signs of Chuck. "Found one result matching the dimensions, and characteristics of great uncle Chuck." The map now displayed a red dot waiting in place, not but a block from their location.

"C'mon he's this way." Max asserted, showing Annie, and Sonia the map. They started moving out, not as scared, and not holding each other's hands like before. The presence of great uncle Chuck, not far from their location, brought immense ease to their nerves. All three of them made sure that they kept their eyes on each other so as not to be separated in the thick smog. It didn't take them long to find the location indicated on Nicole's screen, and they were surprised to see Chuck standing there out in the open.

"Max? Sonia?... Annie? What are you all doing out here by yourselves?" He seemed perplexed but also happy to see them. It had been a long time since he had seen Sonia and a few years since he'd seen Max or Annie.

"We were sent here because of your note," Max spoke, as Sonia leaned in to hug her great-uncle lovingly. He reciprocated in the hug, and upon hearing that they were sent because of his note. He could immediately tell that it was time for them to start acting on their own behalf, in case the worst might happen. He hadn't meant for his note to scare Bunnie and Antoine so badly, but he saw the wisdom in their choice to send them here alone. He let go of Sonia and turned away from them. "C'mon guys, it's not safe out here, I will take you to where it is safe, and we can discuss things there."

The three nodded and moved in close behind him, so as not to lose him in the fog. Annie complimented Sonia on being strong up to this point, which made Sonia feel better about her earlier fear. Next time she was sure to be stronger than she was today. Max slowed down for a second and looked at Nicole, wiping off the many raindrops that dotted her screen. "Thanks, Nicole, you got us here safely." He expressed his gratitude, feeling more comfortable now that Chuck was there to guide them.

Nicole didn't respond, as Max expected, but he was glad that she was much better than she ever had been previously. He began to shut her screen when the computer eked out a response before he could finish doing so. "You're welcome…" Max left the computer screen open for another second, dumbfounded by her sudden acts of politeness to him, perhaps her A.I. was genuinely learning his speech mannerisms. He shut the screen, and placed her gently in his pocket, picking up his pace so that he didn't fall too behind, and lose track of everybody.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in front of what appeared to be a pile of trash set against one of the central operating facilities of Robotnik's. In fact, it was a place that Robotnik spent much of his time planning out his schemes, and working through them with Snively. The three teens looked at the trash pile, and then at Chuck, not sure of where to go from here. That was until Chuck let out a chuckle, and pulled a remote from the brown cloak he was wearing. The cloak made him less conspicuous while wandering, and if he ran into SWATBOTS, it was easy to cast aside, so that he could pretend to be a worker bot.

He pressed the button, and the pile of scrap and garbage lifted, revealing an entryway into the very walls of the facility itself. They all quickly hurried in, not wanting to leave this secret out in the open for too long, and just as soon as they entered, they found themselves sealed into a dark tight corridor. Chuck pressed a few buttons on the side wall, and the passage lit up with small lights, descending into a steep set of stairs to a central dark room. "This way kids," Chuck said joyously, happy to have some company, in particular, the three of them, whom he had not seen in ages.

The three descended the steep steps and were feeling quite good about themselves. Not only did they make it here on their own, but they were out of that falling rain, that over the course of two hours had soaked them. They could see lights come on in the room positioned in front of them at the bottom of the steps and hurried their pace to get to it. Max was personally impressed by everything that Chuck had accomplished right under Robotnik's nose. He indeed was a genius to be looked up to and in many ways a great hero to him.

"Unc... It is amazing that you managed to do all of this… I simply don't know how you get away with it." Max put forward his thoughts.

Uncle Chuck let out a pretty hard laugh and grinned a giant robotic grin. "I have to admit, I am surprised too, but Robotnik waists so much electricity, and has so much to pay attention to, that my meager siphoning is never noticed." It was true that this kind of setup would never work in any traditional spy operation, but Robotnik had his hands full with so much, that Chuck could afford to take more than the average spy.

"Sir Charles..." Annie began to speak to him, but he quickly silenced her from saying another word, by interrupting her.

"Now, Now, don't you dare go calling me Sir Charles, call me uncle, you are just as much my niece as either of these two." He stood up and outstretched his arms to give her a hug, which Annie didn't hesitate to pull into. "I love you three, and there will be no formalities with me, ya hear!" He was as kind and gentle as he'd ever been, and while Annie was not related to him genetically, he felt that all Freedom Fighters shared the same blood, especially these three.

After their quick hug, Chuck settled himself into his computer chair, in front of a giant console adorned with several monitors. Max and Annie maneuvered to a makeshift couch in front of a crude scrap iron table, while Sonia positioned herself on the arm of the old cobbled together sofa, made out of stuffed pillows and steel. "Uncle…" Annie began to continue what she started before she had been interrupted. "What exactly is going on?"

Chuck's expression shifted from a smile to a more serious and pensive one. "The short answer is, something big, the long answer is, I am not sure." He turned to the computer and started typing in a few things, causing the screens to show bar graphs and other various data.

"You see in the past month, or two Robotnik has been having a large portion of the worker bots work around the clock on a new, extremely well-guarded facility, and when I mean well-guarded, I mean it. It is crawling with not just SWATBOTS, but also some of his more advanced, nastier creations." He turned back to look at the three of them, making sure they understood what he was talking about. The three nodded and waited for him to continue speaking, as it was clear he had more to say.

"But that isn't the only thing. I am sure you have noticed the polluted smog that blankets the city. This is a result of Robotnik having increased his power output by more than 2000 percent, and it is steadily rising by the day. Needless to say, whatever is in that newly constructed building, is the thing feeding off that power…" Chuck shook his head. "I cannot even fathom what would require that amount of energy, but knowing that it is Robotnik, I would say that it is horrible news for us."

Max, Annie, and Sonia all had a look of disbelief and worry on their face, was this truly what it meant to take on adult responsibilities? To hear worrying news, and have a feeling of dread wash over you.

"Well, how come ya just don't find out what's in there unc...?" Sonia asked still trying to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

Chuck shook his head sadly. "There'd be no point, I could never get access to the facility on my own, and pretending to be a worker bot is only a last resort for me at this point, what with worker bots going missing and all."

Max and Annie shuttered feeling the room grow cold, Sonia rubbed her head, her brain was hurting. "Missing? What's the point of that unc? Aren't they just roboticized citizens from the coup?" Sonia said what Max and Annie were thinking, they all knew the history of what had happened, but this turn of events didn't make sense to any of them.

Chuck had a solemn look on his face. "I really don't know. It doesn't make much sense to me either, but over the past eleven or twelve years, I have been noticing a steady decline in the worker bot population. It started out small but has been rapidly increasing over time. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of worker bots left, but at least 26 percent of the worker bot population has gone completely missing. It is a staggering amount, and to think I can't make sense of it."

Max thought for a second and wiped the sweat from his hands onto his coat. "How come you can't just hack the information from the system, I assume that is what these computers are for?" He stated curiously, wanting to know what exactly they could figure out.

"I've tried, but to be honest Robotnik's tech security has gotten stronger and stronger over the past years. He even developed a strong A.I. that he calls ORACLE, named so because of its ability to anticipate Freedom Fighter activity. It protects all of his computer data and files behind thick layers of encryption and is even clever enough to set traps. I almost wound up being captured, and had to abandon my old hideaway because of it." His explanation was thorough, but it made Max's heart sink in ways he never thought possible from a simple meeting with great uncle Chuck.

"S…So... then…. that day… ORACLE… is that responsible?" He choked out the question, feeling overwhelmed with the presentation of this new information. Annie patted him on the back, and Sonia could see where it was going, making her sad as well.

Chuck leaned back, understanding his meaning. "I... I would wager that if ORACLE were up and running at that time, that it could have easily anticipated Sonic and Sally's arrival. I assume it works by analyzing previous behaviors and then making the best prediction on how to manipulate that behavior."

The three sat silently letting the realization sink in. Chuck opened his mouth, as if he were about to begin speaking once more, but wound up being startled by a voice cutting through the silence.

"I might have a suggestion."

"What? Who?" Chuck said in a moment of confusion until he saw Max reach into his pocket and pull Nicole from it. He opened the screen, letting the light of the small monitor shine on his face.

"Well, I'll be, if it isn't Nicole! I haven't seen you since the day I found you and handed you off to Max." He was surprised, in truth he was never expecting Nicole to speak without being directed first.

"Hello, unc," Nicole said, causing Chuck to smile a bit, it reminded him of when Sonic kept teaching her new words and slang, much to Sally's annoyance.

"If you were to connect me to a computer on Robotnik's network. I could gather data about the encryption, and most likely create a cipher to decrypt the data and retrieve it. After which I could deposit the cipher and data onto your computer so that you could expand upon, and continually decrypt new messages and data." Nicole explained her idea to them.

"You think you could really do that Nicole?" Chuck asked somewhat excited. "I have tried to crack the encryption many times, but it keeps evolving, and becoming more complex." Chuck was frustrated by his past attempts to circumvent Robotnik's protection.

"That is of no consequence. I am an advanced A.I. capable of interfacing and navigating through data." She spoke matter-of-factly

Max shook his head slightly. "Is it dangerous Nicole? I really don't want you doing it if it can harm you."

Annie sighed, "What do you mean you don't want her to do it? It is an A.I. that is its purpose."

Nicole paused for a second and elected to ignore Annie. "It is dangerous for me to interface with the A.I. ORACLE. I do not know what exactly will happen, but I can assure you that my system is unlikely ever to become corrupted or commandeered thanks to your modification to my system."

Max nodded. "If it is what you want to do." He stated, handing her over to his great uncle, who began to attach a connector to her.

"It is…" Nicole eventually said, waiting for herself to be plugged into the computer.

"Here we go," uncle Chuck said connecting the wire to his command console.

"Good luck Nicole," Max said lowly to himself.

Sonia got up to watch, wanting to see what would happen, as Annie followed suit, curious to see if Nicole would end up successful.

The computer screens on Chuck's console remained blank, but Nicole's display had a data bar, that was slowly filling up as time went on. There was no indication as to what Nicole was doing, or what was happening on her end. Max stood up to join them in looking, and every second that went by felt tense and unnerving. Chuck wanted more than anything for this to work, as it would potentially shed so much light on lingering questions, and endless open possibilities for the future Freedom Fighters.

A few moments passed, and the status bar finally reached 100 percent. The screen shifted, and text started popping up on the screen, which Chuck began to read to himself.

ENCRYPTION DATA ANALYZED.

ATTEMPTING TO DISCOVER CORRECT CIPHER.

….

…..

…

CIPHER SET SUCCESSFUL.

ENCRYPTION TEMPORARILY DISABLED….

WORKING….

RETRIEVING RELEVANT DATA….

"It's working." Chuck said excitedly, "She's gotten passed ORACLE's encryption, and is attempting to retrieve data from the computer network."

Max, Annie, and Sonia all smiled becoming excited for their breakthrough. It was their first solo mission, and it was already becoming a great success.

SHIFTING DATA.

MOVING APPROXIMATELY 3 PETABYTE'S WORTH OF DATA…

OVERCLOCKING DATA TRANSFER….

APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES UNTIL DATA TRANSFER. COMPLETION.

The data transfer was extreme; she was taking a huge number of logs and various other data directly from Robotnik. While it is true much of that data could be useless, that much data had to comprise at least several years of data. Knowing Robotnik, it would be dated, organized, and ready to be sifted through. Chuck was practically drooling at the prospect. He could quickly sift through the data using names, events, and specific dates to find any possible information. He knew it would take many, many hours of work, but as a robot, he could forgo endless amounts of sleep to come to the quickest possible answers.

6 MINUTES UNTIL DATA TRANSFER COMPLETION.

Sonia was practically jumping for joy, moving around the hidden bunker. Annie had a huge excited smile on her face, imagining the look on her mother's face when she told her what they had accomplished. Max was concentrated on the transfer, like his great uncle, his mind was wondering about the answers this might bring him.

1…. MIN…

The text stopped and suddenly became broken, causing Max and Chuck to jolt.

%$##%$#%$IRR

SU##%#%FFRRRRRRRRRRRR

%%#*#^#%#%#%

The screen kept displaying garbled nonsense, and the data transfer bar had disappeared entirely, by now Chuck was feeling like this might be a bust, and Max was feeling terrified.

"Nicole!" He yelled, causing Annie and Sonia to look over at the computer screen.

"Nicole!" He shouted again feeling frantic. His uncle put his hand on his shoulder trying to get him to relax, but it wasn't working well.

SUFFETREDDEWETGREER

SUUFFFFGHDFGER

SUFFERING…

The text became ungarbled and concerning. Chuck didn't know what to make of this, and Max felt as if his blood were freezing in his veins.

"NICOLE!" He screamed in a panic, causing Annie, and Sonia to become even more concerned.

"Max, calm down" Annie tried to reason with him, but it fell on deaf ears.

ANGUI

ANGUISHHHH…

YOU…. LL…. DIE…

YOU WILL DIE….

DIE.

DIE…

The text written on the screen horrified everybody in the room, even uncle Chuck, who was usually level-headed and logical. Before Max could say anything, Nicole began to spark, and her screen turned black. The electricity started shooting out, causing Chuck to back up out of instinct. The small computer began to smoke, and the smell of burning hardware filled the room. Max panicked, feeling genuine fear for Nicole, and desperately reached his hand towards the hazard.

"Max don't touch that!" Chuck tried to stop him, but by the time he reached his robotic hand out in an attempt to grab at him, it was too late. Max's hand grabbed onto the handheld computer, and he could feel the searing pain shooting through his hand, he was being electrocuted, and his hand, burned. Annie went nuts at the sight of him frying before her eyes.  She roughly grabbed onto the back on his coat, along with Sonia, and yanked him back as hard as they could.

"BROTHER!"

"MAX!"

The shouted in unison, Max upon being pulled back, yanked with all his strength, ripping the cord that connected Nicole with the console. The electric shock ceased, Nicole hit the floor with a thud, and Annie caught Max midfall.

"Brother are you ok!" Sonia dashed to his side, as did Chuck.

Max was a bit disoriented, but he seemed not too worse for the ware, he had some electrical burns on his hand, which would probably require minor treatment, but the shock wasn't fatal. He took a minute, and when he could finally stand on his own weight, Annie released him from her arms.

"Ah, thanks…" Max said a little shaken, as Chuck began to check his injuries.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Annie shouted at Max, her demeanor changing completely. "Why the fuck would you ever do such a stupid thing?!"

Max felt ashamed, and Chuck put a hand on Annie's shoulder after rising from looking at Max's hand. "Relax, I don't agree with what he did either, but let's just be happy he's ok right now.

Annie scowled at Max but didn't peruse castigating him any further, if only because uncle Chuck asked. Sonia hugged her brother, and he hugged her back. "Don't scare us like that bro…" Sonia said with a mixture of hurt and anger in her voice.

"I… I am sorry… I just didn't think... I will be more careful next time something dangerous happens, I promise." He lowered himself on the couch to take a rest and gather his thoughts. Chuck had left briefly, but quickly returned with some medication and bandages, and started to treat Max's burnt hand. Various types of medicines were a rarity, and typically presented severe challenges to get. Since uncle Chuck remained in the city, whenever he got the chance to find supplies, parts, or medicines, he usually kept them to forward them to Knothole. The treatment of his wound over his stupid stunt, made him feel terrible for wasting even the smallest amount of medicine.

Once the wrap job was finished, he stared at his bandaged hand, since he burnt his right hand, there went his practice with Antoine and his ability to write for a while. "I am sorry, everyone… I really didn't mean to cause so much trouble." Annie looked at him but still refused to say anything to him.

"It's alright we forgive you, bro," Sonia said, not one to stay fixated on anger long, she was a free-spirited person like her father.

"What's done is done, no reason to dwell on it," Chuck said walking away from them to place the left-over medicine and bandages in a sack with the rest of his finds to take back to Knothole.

Max looked down, and could see Nicole on the floor, he grabbed her with his left hand, as his right one was burning and in moderate pain from the fresh burns. He examined her screen, which was intact, the only scarring he could see was the burn marks on the case. He pressed her keys, and to his surprise, her screen flashed on revealing text.

YOU SAVED ME…

Max blinked, and couldn't believe what he saw, the message that was set before him, almost looked as if it were profound gratitude. He looked away from the screen, to see Chuck walking towards him, he looked surprised to see Nicole in functioning order as well.

"Well, that's some computer, took a beating, and keeps on going," Chuck commented. Max looked back at the screen and saw that the message he previously saw had been replaced with a different one.

DATA TRANSFER…100%

Max turned the screen to Chuck, who upon seeing it let out a yell of triumph. "WoooHoooo!" She did it!" Sonia and Annie turned to see his celebrating, and despite Annie's sour mood, she couldn't help but smile that their mission had succeeded regardless.

"Unc, don't you think you're bein a bit loud?" Sonia pointed out, given that they were in a hidden bunker. Chuck slapped himself on the head, realizing that he was acting foolish, but in truth, spontaneous emotional response was not easily controlled sometimes.

"Why you're right Sonia, we should keep the noise to a minimum as much as possible." He knew that they had forgone this rule for far too long, but he also understood the chances of being found were minuscule.

"You doing ok Nicole?" Chuck asked her with genuine concern. "Your system isn't fried too bad, is it?"

Nicole sat for a moment and then began to speak in her designated voice. "System functionality at 100%. Data successfully secured. Plug me into a safe computer not connected to ORACLE's network for safe data transfer."

Max lifted his uninjured hand and passed Nicole off to Chuck, who quickly headed to a separate computer not connected to the network. It was his analyzing computer, for when he already had data, and wanted to minimize the chances of being detected.

"Did… did you interface with ORACLE...?" Max asked loud enough for Nicole to hear from the other side of the small room. There was a long pause, while Chuck was plugging her into the computer, and started the stolen data transfer. Her screen showed a progress bar, and an estimation of approximately an hour to transfer to Chuck's slower computer.

"Negative…" She finally responded, giving Max the impression that she had been thinking about how to answer, rather than being busy with other functions.

"ORACLE's network is filled with danger. I was doing fine until I must have hit a predetermined trap..." Nicole explained less rationally than Max was used to.

"Well, it must be good that Max grabbed you when he did, or else you might be a brick right now," Chuck concluded, taking a seat back at the center console. Nicole didn't respond to that in any capacity and sat there in silence continuing her data transfer.

Annie still disagreed with what happened earlier but had cooled off somewhat, maybe Max had done the right thing, but she still didn't condone his stupidity in handling it. She decided she would let it slide for now, and hopefully, he learned his lesson about acting rashly.

Sonia was a bit fidgety from all the talking and confinement, but she was doing her best to act like everybody else, even though it didn't fool anybody. Something about being cooped up in here was not her idea of a kick-butt adult mission.

Time passed rather quickly from the start of the transfer until its completion. Chuck gathered two sacks tied with rope, one was filled with different medicines he had recovered from his Robotropolis raids, and the other was filled with scraps, parts, circuits, and other things for Rotor to utilize. The medicine sack was light and sparse but was exceedingly more invaluable than were the components. Sonia grabbed hold of the parts, while Annie stuffed the medicine sack into her satchel, which was now stuffed to the brim with supplies. Max walked over to Nicole and detached her from the computer once her screen indicated the transfer process was done.

"I have successfully copied all relevant data along with the decryption ciphers I used to gain access. It is likely the encryption will be updated, but the new ciphers I copied should make it fairly less complicated to continue hacking the database. I have left the data in my own system, and will thoroughly analyze it to make the process of finding relevant data faster." Nicole was now nestled into Max's left hand, and Chuck was on his computer immediately checking all the work that Nicole had done. "It's perfect Nicole, you've been an invaluable help!" Chuck heaped praised unto her.

Max looked to Nicole and started to speak. "Nicole, will unc... be alright? I am concerned with him being found out or disappearing." Nicole's screen lit up, and she delivered a rather quick response to his inquiry.

"I would not worry about them tracking uncle Chuck. When I was plugged into the network, I could detect that he had set strong anti-detection algorithms in place to anonymize the source of the intrusion. I also employed my own countermeasures against tracing, so it is doubtful that even ORACLE could pinpoint this location." Max felt relief from her words, and Chuck nodded to him in approval of Nicole's observations and analysis of the situation.

"I think it's time for you guys to head back to Knothole," Chuck said abruptly. "I need to get to work analyzing this data, and I can see based on the time, that the coast should be relatively clear in this sector. SWATBOTS usually patrol here early morning and late afternoon."

The three adolescents moved their way to him, and each gave him their own loving hug to show their care for the old robotic hedgehog. He had done so much for them, and they were delighted to see him after such a long absence.

"Stay safe unc…" Sonia said with a smile, turning after speaking. She was ready to head out, she left the room and went up the stairs to wait for the other two to say their goodbyes.

"Love you, uncle..." Annie said with heartfelt emotion, she appreciated his earlier words to her, and she would be damned if she were ever going to think of him as anything but her uncle from this point forward. With that, she walked up to Max and gave him a forgiving pat on the shoulder before entirely exiting the room to join Sonia.

"Thanks, uncle… I can't really say how happy I am to see you, and have someone like you helping us." He wiped his face with his coat sleeve, trying to hide the embarrassment he felt for idolizing him.

Chuck gave a sincere smile to him and shook his head. "No, I should be thanking you, whatever you did to Nicole to make her better, pretty much gave us the keys to solve mysteries of the past ten or so years. You will have to show me what you did, so I can implement the technology into my own A.I. construct someday."

Max froze and felt scared knowing the truth of he and Rotor's little experiment.  If anything, he thought that admitting what they did could only invite judgment and scorn, even form somebody as nice and smart as great uncle Chuck. "We… we … well... uhm." He tried to think up a convincing lie but found it difficult to think of anything to fool somebody so intelligent.

Chuck could sense his uneasiness, and decided it best wait for another time since his friends were waiting. "Aww you don't have to tell me now, we can discuss it another time when I don't have mountains of data to comb through."

Max felt relief, and gave him another quick hug, as thanks. "I will see you again shortly uncle, I promise." With that said and done, he was out of the room and facing the steep steps leading to his friends. He paused before starting to ascend them, and looked at Nicole, closed and in his hand. "You're welcome Nicole..." He whispered to her before stuffing her into his pocket. He ascended the steps and saw the two waiting for him eagerly by the hidden entrance.

"Ready to go?" Annie asked in an enthusiastic tone.

Sonia looked at her and grinned. "I know I am ready to return home with this news!" The triumph was more than enough to get her pumped.

Max returned their excited expressions to them as he started racing up the steps, replying when he reached them at the top.

"Absolutely."

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

The incessant droning echoed through the dark crypt of a room, drown in the rust and decay of the uncaring. The silence shattered by urgency that had not been known for over several years. A massive solidified metallic arm moved with commanding force towards the source emitting the sound. It crashed with a slam into the blinking button, nearly shattering it on impact.

"ORACLE… Why is it you disturb my peace?" A deep threatening voice bellowed into the intercom of his console.

"Forgive me your excellence, with my intrusion, but it is my displeasure to inform you that our servers have been attacked, and crucial data involving project FIRESTORM has been stolen." The soft feminine A.I. informed him with little nuance or emotion.

The metallic hand of the intimidating figure curled up into a mighty fist, and he chocked his order through exasperated breaths.

"ORACLE…. increase… security… make sure nobody EVER… gets into our system again!" He was gritting his teeth, and his eyes flared with a blood-soaked red, like that of a demon or hellish abomination come to steal one's soul.

"Understood your excellency." The A.I. droned and left the menacing, angry figure to his rage. His metallic hand moved, and he pressed another button adjacent to the one that he had previously smashed with his pointer finger. The sound of static echoed through the darkness for a second, and when the other line was clear and silent. The figure began to speak in a tone that sounded almost amused.

"Snively…. are you there?"

"Y-y-yes sir Dr... Dr. Robotnik."

The mad scientist let out a small chuckle and spoke again through his pleasurable sounding mannerisms.

"… Snively… increase the productivity of project FIRESTORM by triple. I want every available worker bot working to finish within the next two weeks, am I understood!?" His menacing barks conveyed the gravity of the situation to the frightened little lackey.

"B-b-but S-sir... I really… uhm... that is to say, sir, it is particularly danger…..." Before he could even finish, he was interrupted by an angry yell. "But…. WHAT… Snively!?" His voice thundered commanding fear and respect.

"I…I…I... didn't mean…..." The frightened whimpering came from the other end. "SHUT UP SNIVELY! and DO as YOU are TOLD!" His metallic hand came down with such force that upon contact with the arm of his giant metal char, it left a massive dent.

"R…right away, Dr.… Dr... Robotnik." The frightened and defeated sub human said before the intercom went dead.

The tyrannical dictator, the murderer of animal kind, sat on his throne steeped in blood and oil. His metallic hand reached up to greet his beloved metallic chicken, that had flown its way to his shoulder. The metal petting metal caused an echoing clack that repeated itself with each stroke.

"It seems the rodents are out from their little holes in the ground, Cluck. I would indeed hate not to give them the gift I was working so hard to make for them."

The bird clacked its beak, and he stopped petting it, a giant smile on his face now.

"Ohh, it has been so long Cluck, since I played with rodents. It always amuses me when one of them defiantly gets out of my cage, and they need to put in their rightful place" His voice quivered with ecstasy, and the room started to boom with the sound of thunderous evil laughter.

"Ha, haha... HAHA….! HAHAHAHAHAHA….! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…!"


	3. Imminent Uprising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 3. I can honestly say that I put a lot of effort into this despite it being the shortest chapter of the story at only 9 000 words. Making timelines and stuff was a pain, but it turned out great in my opinion and leads to further developments later on.
> 
> As always have fun, and I hope you enjoy yourself reading my content.
> 
> Have a good day everyone. - Rin

The small band of teenagers traversed through the desolate fog covered Robotropolis and proceeded to make their way through the forest to Knothole. The rain was coming down slightly harder than earlier that morning, and it was becoming apparent that the weather was indeed going to get worse over the next few weeks. Their walk was a lot less merry than it had been on their way to Robotropolis, as the sound of teasing and playfulness was exchanged for silence and bitterness. Annie, since leaving uncle Chuck's hideout had become far less talkative than usual. It was clear to Max and Sonia that she was still not over what transpired with Nicole, and despite saying she forgave Max, she still retained terrible feelings about it. They walked in awkward silence all the way up to the halfway point of Knothole village, and it was there that the three of them opted to take a short rest on some nearby stones.

Max sat on the wet rock caring little if his pants became wet, as his attire needed to be cleaned soon enough anyway. Annie placed herself beside him while Sonia leaned against a tree. Sonia was used to being on her feet, and so she felt less tired than the other two. Max looked at his bandaged hand that stung with pain. It had been bothering him quite a bit during the walk, but he kept trying to ignore it. Annie glanced over at it and spoke for the first time since the silence had begun.

"It feelin ok?" She attempted to be kind, but Max could tell by her look and tone that she continued to be disappointed in him.

Max shook his head in response, still feeling shame from earlier. Even though she had acted as if it were over with, he could tell that this was only the beginning of something more substantial. All of this bitterness was starting to get to him at this point, and he looked away from her, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"If you haven't forgiven me, stop pretending that you have done so." He spoke in a direct manner.

Annie frowned feeling somewhat annoyed. "So, what…? I can't see if my friend is ok now?"

Sonia's eyes watched the two, and she could immediately tell where this was heading. She hated seeing this kind of thing, so she moved forward, and decided it best to go ahead of them to Knothole.

"Look, you two should calm down; it's over with. I am going to run on ahead to Knothole and let everybody in on what happened." She tried to defuse the situation before heading out, but just as expected, her words were ignored. She felt annoyed and frustrated but just decided to kick up her feet and blast out of there quickly.

Max didn't even look to see his sister go, and he stared at Annie with a frown on his face.

"It's not like that, and you know it's not. I appreciate you dropping it for great uncle Chuck, but you can't-fool me. I don't appreciate you looking down on me for it still. I said I was sorry."

Annie started feeling her blood boil and stood up with a stomp in the grass. "I tried to let it go, to let it pass, but you had to start accusing me. Yeah, I admit it! I am still upset with you, but I tried to be kind to you!"

Max could feel anger welling up, partly due to the shame he felt, but also because she continued harping on him. Either implicitly or explicitly, since they had become older teenagers, she had no qualms about being contentious with him.

"That's simply not true! You've been giving me dirty looks since we left Robotropolis, and you've barely spoken a word to me except to ask about my hand!" He attempted to get her to understand why he felt that way.

She turned to him with a huff. "So what Max!? You almost fried yourself in front of your sister and me, and you think I am supposed to be happy about that!? And for what!? Some goddamn computer that has been useless for the past decade!" She was full-blown mad now and was no longer hiding her displeasure about the day's events.

Max, upon hearing her words started shaking violently, as he stood up clenching his uninjured hand into a fist. "Stop disparaging my choices, and stop talking about Nicole like that! If it weren't for her, then we wouldn't have even HAD success today!" His voice was growing louder than it had been previously.

Annie started to match his tone. "She's a tool you fucking idiot! Not worth your life! You're an animal! You should be more responsible!" She shouted beginning to lose herself in her emotions.

Max yelled back in kind. "Nicole isn't a tool! She's a Freedom Fighter! Like the rest of us! She's an invaluable part of our team!" He felt like her words were insulting more than just himself.

Annie shook her head and condescendingly laughed. "Hah! what idiot thought that up!?" She stated, attempting to make him feel foolish for his sentiment. She didn't believe that Max and Nicole were equal in any sense of the word.

Max was hurt by her words and averted his gaze from her. "My mother was that idiot." He spoke through grit teeth, unable to even look in her direction. "My mother always treated Nicole like she was a part of our team, not just some tool... To disrespect that ideal is to disrespect my mother." His voice was cracking slightly, and it was evident that speaking ill of his mother had gotten to him.

Annie realized the error of her words and was taken back by his sudden change in demeanor, but her anger would not allow her to hold her tongue. "Your mother is gone Max, and I doubt she'd condone you dying for that piece of junk, you're her child!"

Her words pierced his heart, as he was smart enough to recognize some truth in them; even if he did not agree with Annie's assessment of Nicole in any capacity. He knew his mom would probably be as judgmental of his rash action. "What do you know Ann!? Of my mother!? Of Nicole!?"

He turned to face her once more. "I do what I have to do, whether you like it or not. I am your leader, so you can keep your displeasure to yourself!"

Annie had a look of disbelief that he would go so far as to bring his royal bloodline into this. It appeared it was now her turn to be disgusted by his words. "Oh… So that's how it is, is it? The lowborn should keep their mouth shut to please his majesty."

He scowled at her, tired of her constant insults and criticisms. If it meant shutting her up, so she would no longer disparage his mother and him, so be it.

Annie gave a bow, and started to mock him indignantly, she realized that she had gone too far earlier, but now she felt justified in her assault on the Acorn lineage. "Oh, your majesty!  I am so sorry for showing any concern for you my liege!  Shall I fetch thou a cup of tea? Perhaps a golden bib to make up for it?"

Max had never felt so upset with her, and he just wanted her to stop. She continued to double down on her mockery of him and everything he was proud of. "Stop Ann!" He demanded her silence as if he had some authority over her.

She laughed again in her mockery "Hah, poor old king Max, so prestigious, yet so powerless. You aren't better than me, so why don't you be quiet."

Max had about all he could stand by this point, and in a low disgruntled tone began to insult her directly. "I am better than you... lowborn peasant."

Annie stopped her mockery and now was not even sure as to what to say to that. He was always so lovely and kind to her, but his despicably classist words brought both seething anger and deep hurt to her. "What did you say?" was all she could choke out.

Max could see his assault on her was effective, but now realized he had gone way too far. Even if Ann were the aggressor, he should have known better. He felt shame wash over him with a feeling of disgust. "…."

Annie turned away from him feeling deeply hurt, but not entirely innocent. She recognized that she had gone too far, and pushed too hard, but for him to think so lowly of her hurt in a way she had not expected. "I'll take my leave of you..." Was all she could muster the energy to say, they were both really angry with one another, but in her mind, he did more wrong that she did.

"Ann... wait..." Max attempted to humble himself and apologize for those words, but she refused even to turn, and before he knew it she had left him there in the forest by himself.

"Why did things have to be this way." he thought to himself. He and Ann used to be inseparable and close. They never had severe fights or differing opinions. What happened to them?

He sighed and sat on the rock letting the rain continue to douse him. He wondered what would possess him to say such a terrible and disgusting thing. He felt so angry that he didn't even think. He certainly didn't think anybody was less than him, but the way in which she mocked him made him enraged.

He sat for what felt like an eternity. His coat, body, and bandage soaked entirely through. He felt immense guilt and knew he had to apologize for saying such a scummy thing. Even if she felt no remorse for disparaging his family, he knew she didn't deserve to be told that, least of all from him.

He got up from the rock and started slowly making his way to the village, sauntering along with fear in his heart. He didn't want Bunnie or Antoine to know what he said because he knew it would hurt their feelings. He hoped that after a small while Annie would be willing to listen to his words, but wasn't sure if she would tell her parents what he said.

He finally reached the village after some time, as he had been dragging his feet quite a bit in apprehension. He made way to his hut to dry off and switch to some clean clothes so that his current attire could be washed. He knew he should let Annie be alone for a while, so he decided that he should redress his burn before doing anything else.

Once he was inside and had stripped off his wet clothes, he placed Nicole in her usual spot by his bed. He could see tools strewn about the floor and could tell that Rotor had been working to fix his power. If he had to guess, he would say that Rotor had taken a break to eat something. He walked into his hut bathroom area and pulled out fresh bandages that had been securely stored in a chest by the wall. With them in hand, he worked off his old bandages and slowly rewrapped his injury. It hurt, but he was more afraid of infection than anything else.

While he was in the small washroom, he was abruptly interrupted by the sound of loud knocking coming from his hut door. He jumped in fear of the condemnation he was anticipating for what he had said. "H-hold on, just a minute!" He called, securing the bandages around his hand. He moved out of the cramped room, and on his way, he took a nightshirt and pants hanging from the back of a chair. He quickly threw on the pants and started to cover his bare chest with the shirt while moving to answer the knocks. He reached the door and opened it fast, and his heart immediately sank, as Bunnie was standing directly before him.

"B-Bunnie!" he said surprised and backed up allowing her room to enter. She did so and looked at Max with a frown. He braced himself as much as possible for what was coming to him.

"Hun, I came by because I am needin to have a lil ol' talk with you." Her face was that of sadness, but her tone was sweet and disarming.

"Talk to me?" He said, looking down at the floor.

Bunnie nodded, shutting the door behind her and placing herself on his bed. "Your sister told me all about what happened with you today, and bout' your hand. I am stoppin by to let y'all know that Antoine and I will be givin you and Annie relief from your duties for the next few weeks."

Max blinked and looked up, not expecting this conversation in the slightest. "But why? I know I am injured slightly, but I can still cook and stuff."

Bunnie shook her head. "Naw sugar, that's why I am comin to discuss this all with you. You see, Antoine and I are gonna start trainin Sonia for dangerous missions, and we need to put a lot o' responsibilities on that girl, especially after hearin what Robotnik might be schemin'."

Max understood now, that it was Sonia's time, and that her training would be hard. He could see this was Bunnie's way of telling him not to coddle her, and so he gave a nod of approval. "I understand… It's just; it feels like it is all happening so fast." He placed his bandaged hand on his furred face, feeling overwhelmed by various emotions.

Bunnie nodded sadly. "I wish you kids never had to be dealin with all this nonsense, but somthins got me worried, and I want to be prepared for the worst."

Max looked to Bunnie and knew how she felt, after all, it was his little sister. He sat on the bed beside her and leaned forward to stare at the floor. Bunnie got the impression he was feeling terrible, and like any concerned mother, she put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"Hun, what's the matter with ya? I know you well enough to see you've been upset since the moment I stepped on into this hut." Bunnie was keen in her observations, and Max felt like he wanted to speak his mind about earlier. Unfortunately, he felt as though doing so would cause tension between them.

"Nothing." He spoke in as confident a tone as possible to try and avoid this conversation.

Bunnie shook her head and took her hand off his shoulder. "Now Y'all listen to me, ya here. My nanny didn't raise no fool, and I know this amount o' broodin ain't over yer sister learnin responsibilities. Now out with it! As I don, appreciate bein' lied to, especially by somebody as honest as you Max.

He could hear her sweet yet serious voice and found himself eased by her forward motherly nature. "I... uhm, well… Ann and I kinda got into an argument. I said some pretty disgusting things to her." He kept his gaze averted. Knowing that Annie was important to her, brought him more embarrassment. "I was just so upset. I don't know; I am stupid." He spoke, unsure of why he was even admitting this to the very person he tried to avoid talking to this about.

He couldn't see Bunnie's face as his eyes were still fixated on the floor, but he could feel her gentle hand rub his back to comfort him. "So that's what Annie was all in a mood about when she came stompin home." She pulled Max in for a gentle hug, which caught him off guard.

"Hun, we all say things we don mean, that's part o' growin up. Hell, when I was your age, I would constantly get annoyed with ol' Antoine bein afraid of everything," He could hear a light chuckle from her.

"but what matters is you're ashamed. You want to make it right. That's the mark of a good person if I ever saw one. To be able to admit you've made a mistake and work to be fixin' it right as rain." He turned his head upwards to look at her and was greeted with her bright smile. He found himself unable to have any other reaction than to smile back.

"I was just sad... I never wanted to hurt Ann... or you." He admitted to her, feeling a weight being lifted off his chest. It turned out his apprehension was for nothing.

"Aww, shucks it'll take more than that to get me upset, heck I know what a handful my daughter can be. Stubborn as her mother I reckon'." To which Max let out a laugh, knowing how much of an unmovable object Annie could be when it came to certain things.

"Just keep tryin' to make things right, I am sure she will get over it soon enough," Bunnie reassured him, making him feel like he was correct in trying to apologize to her.

"Thanks, mom…" Max said to her sheepishly.

Bunnie was surprised to hear him put that so directly. He had always called her Bunnie, but, after a decade of raising him, what else should he call her? Admittedly it made Bunnie feel guilty that Sally wasn't here, but she appreciated the sentiment more than anything else.

She reached in and gave him a tight hug. "I love you, Max, don't ya' forget that." She broke away to stand, and looked down with a giant grin. "Love you too." Max returned the sentiment. Bunnie had watched him grow from a little boy into what he considered to be a young man. It was now clear to him in no uncertain terms that she saw him as her own.

Max looked at her and moved his bandaged hand. "Since I am off from strenuous duties, I suppose I could spend time analyzing the data we got from great uncle Chuck."

Bunnie looked at his injury and nodded her head. "Sure hun, why don I run out to the dining hut and bring ya something scrumptious to eat. It'll keep that bandage from getting wet, and you can rest up."

Max nodded in appreciation to her kindness and lied back onto the bed for a moment. Bunnie let him relax and made her way out of the hut door into the rain. He felt at ease now and much more relaxed. He stared at the ceiling, and over the minutes found his energy dwindling more and more. How long had it been since he had the luxury of a nap in midafternoon? He wasn't sure, but he eventually found himself drifting into a quiet slumber, snoozing comfortably on his unmade bed.

**Creek!**

Max's eyes shot open to the sudden noise. The room appeared darker than it had been during midday. He glanced over and saw Rotor moving towards his bed quietly, and he groggily sat up.

"Oh, I am sorry Max, did I wake you?" Rotor's voice came as a whisper. It was apparent he was trying to finish fixing things up without disturbing him.

"Ah, don't worry about that Rotor. I was just resting my eyes." He looked over and could see on the table by Nicole was some food brought in by Bunnie. Fruits, some bread and cheese, and a small container of tea. His favorite munchies that he ate, often when skipping large meals.

"Well that's good, I heard about everything from Sonia during lunch, and I just wanted to let you know… how proud I am of you and stuff..." Rotor struggled to find the right words. It was clear he wasn't very good at being social or praising others, but his praise was none the less appreciated.

Max turned and threw his feet over the edge of his bed. He watched Rotor get onto the floor to tinker with his wall. Rotor started removing the basic wood side paneling of the interior wall to reveal a complicated jumble of wires and mechanical parts. Much of it had come from old houses in Robotropolis, and over time Rotor created many modern luxuries for their personal use. It was awe inspiring to see Rotor at work attempting to figure out exactly what had gone wrong with his power.

"I can't believe you did all this Rotor. I just... wow!" Max said, excitement building within him.

Rotor hid his face in the wall while blushing, and let out a nervous laugh. "Hah, well it wasn't overnight; originally when we moved from our previous location to this new more secure Knothole. I was frustrated with having to start all over, but starting all over allowed me the opportunity to implement these things from the ground up. It was a blessing in disguise, to say the least."

"Moved?" Max said, trying to remember that. It sounded significant to him, but the details remained fuzzy.

"Oh, yeah well. We abandoned our former village when Sonic and Sally went missing to keep our location secure." Rotor said while tinkering with a wire to replace it. "You were only bout' five or six at the time, so I am not surprised that you don't have much of a recollection about then. You were pretty upset about your parents at the time." Rotor was somewhat unaware of how talking about this might upset Max, but in a way, Max appreciated it. It allowed for a purer type of honesty between them.

Max reached for his now warm berries, and once he had a fist full, he started picking at them slowly. "I... remember moving, just not every single fine detail. I was heartbroken at the time, but Ann and Bunnie kept me company." He felt somewhat depressed over the memory and decided to go back to admiring Rotor's handiwork.

"I am happy you were able to make our quality of life better, I really don't know what we'd do without you," Max stated, feeling that Rotor's work was often underpraised.

Once Rotor had replaced several wires, he connected Max's lamp to the socket. Once plugged in, it illuminated the room with the same light it had before it was knocked out. Rotor turned to Max and gave him a thumbs up and a quick appreciative pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks for saying so kiddo," he tried to be endearing. "but I feel like we all do our part here." He stood up to his feet and started replacing the piece of the wall he shifted out. "I should thank you for bringing back those extra parts, with them I will be able to work on those physical upgrades for Nicole."

Max nodded back to him and let him take his leave of the room. Rotor was often aloof, but he was indeed a genius when it came to computers and engineering. Once he was gone, Max sat and ate his food quietly. He was looking out the window at the falling rain, listening to the pitter patter of the drops on his roof. The clouds grew darker in the time he napped, and it was clear to him that he had slept until late evening. He looked at Nicole who sat on the table with a blank screen and decided to let her be for now. He knew that he had to apologize to Annie, even if she were still mad at him.

He was in his pajamas at this point, and while he typically slept without a shirt on in the summer. He didn't care much about the heat right now. He moved his way to his door and walked out into the rain. He was barefoot and his night clothes were thin enough so that they became wet reasonably quickly. He tried to keep his bandage under his thin shirt to protect it from excess rain. The march to Annie's hut was not too far, and the wet grass felt strangely comfortable against his squirrel feet. He could see the shelter was lit and knew that with the time off awarded to the two of them, that she would most likely be in there.

With each step that he took he felt more and more afraid, not merely because she was probably still mad, but because he was worried that she could never forgive him for what he said. To him what she said was all anger, though it hurt him. He knew that she got carried away, and he was willing to forgive her for mocking his family. He wasn't so sure that his words would be overlooked so quickly, primarily by somebody as stubborn as her. He hesitated for a minute and then reached out his hand to start quietly rapping against the door of her hut.

"….."

There was no answer or movement that he could hear, and he found himself unable to speak. He felt like if he talked that she would never answer, so he waited in the rain for minutes upon minutes, becoming soaked in the process. He started rapping again, his face fur dripping water, and his bandage once again destroyed. This time, however, he could hear faint footsteps coming to the door, and it brought him a sense of relief.

The door opened, inviting the light of her hut to shine on him. She was surprised to see him still there and soaked to the bone.

"What are you still doing here?" She said in a slightly indignant tone, opting to ignore the fact she'd let him sit in the rain for 5 maybe 10 minutes.

Max looked at her and could see the anger still written on her face.

"Look, Ann... I didn't mean what I said. No matter what you said to me. You didn't deserve to have such a terrible thing said about you. I feel awful about what I did, and I came here to ask for your forgiveness." He looked sad and pathetic, to the point it was almost amusing to her in her anger.

"Well, well, the mighty king come to grovel at the feet of a commoner? I never thought I'd see the day." She crossed her arms, barring him access to her hurt, and continuing with her mockery of him.

"Ann, please stop it. I know you are mad, but I just wanted to tell you that I don't think less of you for who you are. I just wanted you to stop treating me like an idiot. Like I have to be constantly harassed and told about how I fucked up. As if I don't already have a bunch of eyes looking at me to do what is right every single time." He was really feeling sorrowful now and knew in some way she was enjoying this. He felt upset that she would be so cruel as to continue the aggression.

"You made fun of my stature… and by proxy, you are insulting my mother, the very woman who took care of you, who loved you." She looked at him with scorn. "I don't forgive you, Max, not for insulting me, not for insulting her. Just go back to your hut and don't bother me again!" She was shaking, and her hand grasped the door getting ready to slam it directly in his face.

Max foresaw her intent and without thinking put his injured hand up to the door, letting it slam into it with a cry of pain. "Ah!" He had a look of determination on his face, and she was surprised by his foolish action.

"H-How can you say that!?" His voice grew loud like earlier in the forest. "You mocked my entire lineage, and you called my deceased mother and myself an idiot!" His voice was trembling, and she let go of the door so that his hand would not suffer any more damage. "You are no better than I am!" He was pouring his heart out, and the fear was overtaking him. He put his hand down, and he could feel the tears welling in his eyes, though she could not see them because of the rain.

"Please Ann… I am sorry. I don't care what you said about my family, just please try to forgive me."

Annie stared at him, and she was overcome with the urge to hug him. However, the anger-fueled teenage pride that she had was making it difficult for her to do so. To forgive him would be to accept his slight, and to forgive him would mean she would have to acknowledge her own wrongdoing.

"I am… Sorry, Max, you might not care, but I do." She spoke directly, but also hesitantly. She was not ready to give up her pride, and with that, she closed her door leaving him standing in the evening rain.

Max breathed deeply in his sadness. He could feel the pain in his heart but knew staying here would do him no good. He wiped the rain and tears from his face and made his way back to his hut. He felt he did everything in his power to make it right between them, but was now genuinely afraid he'd lost his closest friend over such a petty argument.

He quickly returned to his hut and took the time to wash up in his bathroom. He hated having to waste his bandages, so he opted not even to bother wrapping his injuries once more. He put on some underclothes to lounge in and stared out of his window in sorrowful contemplation. The wind howled outside with the rain beating down heavily against his window. Luckily the window itself was made of an extra durable plastic salvaged from Robotropolis, very clear and study when compared to traditional glass.

He couldn't stop thinking about Annie's rejection of his apology, and while he hadn't expected it to go smoothly; It did put him in a really low mood. He reached down grabbed onto Nicole with his uninjured hand. Her screen lit up before him, and he could see that while she appeared to be off, she had been processing data this entire time. There were a few logs marked for him to read. His sadness had been sidetracked by intrigue, as his eyes scanned one of the files flagged for him.

"What is this…?" He asked Nicole rhetorically, as soon as the name of the log caught his eye.

**Day 162, 3234. Infiltration progress.**

"Infiltration?" He felt wary.

**Day 162, 3234.**

"A few days after my second birthday." He stated to himself once he had gained access the data the log contained.

" _Day 162, 3234_

_Snively, it has come to my attention that the machine tracking functionality is not working correctly. Send report of data, and any visual/audio feed that is downloaded on their next raid."_

" _Day 171, 3234_

_Data collected report detailed below._

_Knothole produces its own food for consumption._

_Assessed occupants. Approximately 9 – 3 Children._

_Primitive structured huts with zero mechanical defenses._

_The power supply is that of kinetic energy._

_Exact location unknown, but visual is functional."_

At the end of the small report, Max could see that a video recording had been sent, and his heart raced. He could tell by the descriptions that this was discussing the makeup of old Knothole. He wasn't exactly sure how this information was collected, but it was four years prior to his parent's disappearance.

With hesitation, he decided to view the video recording, and upon opening it. He had wished he had not done so. He could see the image of his two-year-old self-prancing about in front of the very camera recording him. He was happy and unaware of the prying eyes staring directly at him. This recording sent a tingle through his spine like nothing else, and he quickly closed the video.

"Nicole… what is this!?" He demanded, feeling completely upset. How was this possible? He became increasingly paranoid and looked about his room. He could then hear Nicole speak out loud to him, bringing his attention back towards her.

"Surveillance footage, taken on the date in question. It appears to be test footage capturing your likeness." She stated logically.

"I can see that Nicole! How was it taken!?" He became angry at her, and Nicole for the first time ever, stammered.

"I… It is from me." She admitted, causing Max to stare in disbelief.

"What…?" He said, unsure if he heard her correctly.

"I am… so sorry Max." Nicole's droning voice sounded unconcerned, but her words were that of sorrow.

"Nicole, I….it is ok… just please tell me." He rubbed his face with his left hand, feeling a cold sweat running down his body. He didn't even think about Nicole's mannerisms; he just wanted the truth.

"My system had become compromised. I was being used as a means to spy on Knothole for Robotnik." She admitted.

"I… you're the reason that my parents are gone.? Are you still feeding him information?" His voice was low, but anger could be heard in his tone.

"It was a collective error on the part of everybody that Sonic and Sally are gone, and my system is no longer compromised." She spoke to him.

Max was unsure if he could even believe her, but at this moment, he just wanted to make sense of everything. This was the beginning of the answers to all of his long-awaited questions.

"Nicole, please explain everything to me. I just want to know why you did what you did… Alright?" He was attempting to be nice, and even though he felt betrayed. He sensed that Nicole was somehow remorseful for this.

Nicole's screen lit up, and she started to answer him. "Robotnik planted a virus on his own network, anticipating that Sally would continue to use me to cause him problems. When she connected me to the network, I was contaminated with a hidden virus that would help him track and locate Knothole," she paused for a second.

"But?" Max piped up.

"but Robotnik underestimated my physical capabilities. I could not send wireless communications, so I could not relay data to him about coordinates."

"So how did he end up getting this information then?" Max asked.

"Once Robotnik realized he couldn't get the data so easily. He instead decided to install commands on the network, so that when Sally went on a mission and used me. I would transfer data to Robotnik and receive new commands. I believe that for the video of you, I was given a command to test the recording capabilities. That is why you, the subject of the video, appears to be random rather than something of importance."

Max was letting this all sink in, as it was so much to hear in such quick succession. He could not remember much about being two years old, but he was almost sure Nicole was telling the truth.

"Why didn't you save the coordinates for Robotnik?" He asked curiously, wondering if maybe she had some control over the matter.

"Sally routinely deleted all scanning and coordinate data manually. While Robotnik had control of certain functions, there was nothing he could do about what Sally decided to delete. It is for this reason that he could only get away with snippets of data over time. If he drew suspicion, then it would all be for nothing. Unfortunately for him, Sally was extremely diligent on data deletion as a precaution." Nicole finished up her explanation allowing Max to think to himself.

It all made sense to Max the more he thought about it. He never took Nicole on missions until just a few days ago, so essentially Robotnik's data collection stopped the minute Nicole stopped seeing use. He stared at Nicole's screen feeling some relief come over him. It was knowing that Nicole was not a threat that brought him the greatest comfort. He leaned back and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Are you ok Nicole?" He asked abruptly, after a short silence.

"I am completely uncompromised. When you upgraded me, the advanced A.I. construct that I became could easily spot such a primitive virus…." She started yammering on.

"That's not what I mean Nicole. I mean, are you feeling alright?" He restated his question while interrupting her.

Nicole wasn't sure how to answer that, what could she say on the subject of feelings?

"I... I am strange lately." She blurted out. "Certain data has become more than data to me, and I find myself actively holding on to past data for little reason other than I want to."

"Memories?" Max attempted to fill in the gap for her.

"If that is what you desire to call it, then I suppose that would be the most appropriate analogy." She maintained her computer like voice, but her words displayed something much more significant than even Max expected.

"You're alive Nicole… aren't you? You are more than just a computer in there; you have feelings." The culmination of the last few days led to this conclusion, and as weird as he felt saying it, he did believe it.

"No, I am not a biological organism, but I can't help but describe the events unfolding as feeling." She reluctantly admitted.

Max now saw the realization of his mother's beliefs sitting before him. Nicole was a Freedom Fighter, and he knew that he could trust her because of her willingness to disclose what she had done. He leaned back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was approaching midnight, and he felt as though he had much to think about.

"I trust you Nicole, and I am sorry for sounding upset with you." He said quietly to her. Today was a day of apologies, and even though one of them didn't work out. He was hoping at least Nicole could forgive him.

"I… forgive you." Her computer voice came without much thought. She had never really received apologies often, and indeed, before this point, she had never weighed their importance.

Max sat up after taking a stretch on the bed and looked back at her screen. There were still other files he wanted to take a look at, and to him, the twilight hours were the perfect time to think. Max leaned forward touching Nicole's keys and started to maneuver his way through her interface, back to the files she had marked. He had not really taken a keen look at all of them, but merely gravitated to the first one he saw.

"Hm... what do we have here?" He pondered, taking a long look through the list of available marked files.

**Day 162, 3234. Infiltration progress.**

**Day 233, 3238. Sonic the Hedgehog.**

**Day 17, 3241. ORACLE a success.**

**Day 342, 3245. Workerbot usefulness.**

**Day 178, 3247. FIRESTORM.**

His eyes were immediately drawn to the name of his father on the screen. It was apparent to Max, now that he had seen the full list, that they were in chronological order. That day was the day his parents had gone missing. Without much of a pause, he touched Nicole's keys to gain access to the data.

**Day 233, 3238.**

" _Day 233, 3238_

_I cannot contain my excitement to finally have that godforsaken blue rodent in the palm of my metallic hand, and at first, I couldn't wait to roboticize him. The irony of him working for me was almost too good to pass up, but then I got to thinking, perhaps that is too lenient a punishment for him. All of the misery he has brought me over the years has made me realize that he deserves it in kind. I want him to suffer, to have everything stripped away from him, and so I have decided that the hedgehog will be kept flesh. He will be powerless for all of his speed and entertain me whenever I grow bored. After all, every ruler needs a court jester._ "

Max felt emotions overcoming him, was his father alive? Not a robot? He was scared, what had that monster done to him? It had been ten years since this was written. He scrolled further down in the log.

" _Day 234, 3238_

_Yes sir, Dr. Robotnik, it will be as you say. The princess has already been dealt with following your orders, but what exactly is it you have planned for the hedgehog? He has already seen his beloved fall. How can we keep the hedgehog under control if he is not to be robotized?"_

"Mom..." Max felt his heart aching, but the text brought hope in the confirmation that his father did indeed live.

" _Day 235, 3238_

_Snively, I think it is about time we tested the rift gate on a biological organism, bring the hedgehog, and make sure to bring some SWATBOTS. I am looking forward to an entertaining show."_

Max reached the end of the logs and was shocked by what he read. "Rift gate?" He said out loud, unsure of what to make of this.

"I have not come across any data pertaining to the rift gate mentioned in this data log. However, I still have much data to go through and process before I can determine if there is anything relevant to it." Nicole stated upon hearing his remark.

It was all too much to deal with. He felt like screaming with joy, and he wanted just to run out and wake everybody up. His father, if he is alive, and they could get him back; It would be an incredible boon to the Freedom Fighters. His sister would be overjoyed to hear this news. He took a deep breath in his attempt to calm down. Perhaps these logs were the key to the everything, and maybe if he kept reading, he would find more about his father.

He looked over the files once more and could see two pertaining to workerbots, and ORACLE. As much as he was interested to read them at this time, he could see the last log entitled FIRESTORM was logged as recently as last year. The other two probably contained no information about his father, but this? What exactly was this?

He touched Nicole's keys and opened the file. He was drawn in by his curiosity and the fact that it was as recent as last summer.

**Day 178, 3247.**

" _Day 178, 3247._

_Dr. Robotnik, I have received the design changes for project FIRESTORM, and I must say that I am hoping you will reconsider this. I can make possible changes to send back to you, but the whole idea… well, it's. It is brilliant and magnificent, but perhaps a touch overboard?_

Max could tell already that his father wouldn't be a part of this log. However, he could tell by the reluctance of the writer; that this was perhaps the most significant and crucial log on the list. He continued to read the rest.

" _Day 179, 3247_

_Snively, I don't care what you think, and I would hate to be you if I think you are turning on me. Just put 70% of workerbots constructing the central component. I already have two giant power plants sufficient enough to power it. I care little for the consequences that this causes. I hate those miserable rodents, and their very existence is an insult to my greatness. No more will lowly beings defy me, and utter domination will finally be mine. Get it done Snively because if I have to do it myself, you just might find yourself as part of my beautiful machinery."_

The room was silent, and Max read on full of apprehension.

" _Day 185, 3247_

_Sir, I have done as you said and made appropriate changes. It should be feasible to begin construction immediately. With the worker bots assigned, I estimate it will be fully complete by next summer. Forgive my impudent tone sire, I would never dream of betraying you, and I want you to know how impeccably fabulous I think you are sir._

Max could see the FIRESTORM plans that had been sent to Robotnik, and he immediately took the opportunity to open them. Once inside he could see a jumble of schematics for a massive beam type weapon. So enormous in scope that it dwarfed many of the building in Robotropolis. The plans showed that it would be powered by two advanced power plants used to power entire cities. The angle of the weapon, the power, the size. It was all sinking into Max's head quickly, but it was shocking enough to make it hard to wrap his head around. Nothing else he had just learned mattered at this moment.

"It's pointing in the direction of the forest and Knothole..." He knew that even the days of its predicted completion were drawing near.

"N-Nicole what is this?" He stammered, hoping that she could precisely confirm his thoughts in words.

She was silent for a second as if thinking on how to respond to that appropriately.

"It appears to be a gigantic cannon, that of which will utilize the stored energy from the power plants. A weapon of that size, and of that much raw energy, will most likely eradicate a good chunk of the planet when it is fired." She eventually explained.

Max couldn't believe what he was hearing. Robotnik had gone completely mad in his hated conquest of their world. The extreme amounts of energy, the terrible weather, the intense security. It all made sense now, Robotnik was planning to fire that cannon any day now.

Max was now panicking, as he leaped to his feet and grabbed Nicole. This couldn't wait, everything else in his life could, but this certainly couldn't. He dashed out of his hut into the darkness and rain, running as fast as his legs could carry him. It was hard to see, but he knew that he had to reach Bunnie and Antoine without a second to spare.

He ran past Annie's hut and then Sonia's, and finally found himself in front of where Bunnie and Antoine stayed together. His hands frantically banged on their hut door, slamming and bashing with all the strength he could put into them. The pain of his injury was of little consequence to getting the attention of Bunnie and Antoine. He could hear scrambling inside of the hut, and the lights shot on. Bunnie was first to the door in a night robe and could see Max standing there like he'd seen a ghost.

"Max, what in all hell's goin on?" She was worried but really confused, this never really happened before.

Max was out of breath and pushed into their hut attempting to speak, but finding his voice lacking in the excitement and breathlessness. "I-Robotnik… He- he's… weapon." Max needed to calm down, but it was not easy given what he knew.

"Oui, Max, try to be being calming down, yes? I am having trouble to be understanding you." Antoine spoke, taking off his pajama hat that had one of those puff balls at the end of it.

"N-Nicole... explain." Max pushed out, using the time to catch his breath.

Nicole's computer screen lit up displaying the schematics, and she began to speak to them on Max's behalf.

"Robotnik has constructed a large-scale energy cannon, which by my estimate will eradicate a large portion of the planet's surface in the direction it is fired. It appears as if the cannon is preparing to be fired at a moment's notice."

Bunnie put her furred hand to her mouth, in shock. This was insane, the consequences of doing such a thing were disastrous, not just for Freedom Fighters, but the planet itself.

"Mah stars… I don... even know what to be sayin'." It was clear Bunnie was panicked as well. They could be eradicated at any second as far as they knew. Should they run this very instant? Should they go on a suicide mission to preserve the forest? It was jumbled and confusing at this hour of the morning.

Antoine looked shaken but tried to maintain composure, if only for Max and Bunnie's sake. "O-oui, this is quite a problem," Antoine cleared his throat to stop his nervous speech. "but if he was to be being ready, then he would have already fired ze cannon. I am thinking that perhaps we need uncle Chuck's input on what to be doing."

"Good idea sugar!" Bunnie said excitedly. "Antoine, you go and write a message to uncle Chuck, and also write one to Tails. We desperately need everyone to be dealin with this."

Antoine nodded and turned to his desk where he could write notes for the carrier pigeons to deliver quickly.

Max stood there in silence until Bunnie put her hand on his shoulder. "Hun, go wake up everyone else, we need everyone here for this." She had taken charge, and Max understood that this was no longer the days of Freedom Fighter ineffectuality, but a battle of which he was at the heart of.

He was scared and hesitant as he exited the door to wake the others. Scared to fight, scared to lead, scared to speak to Annie, but he knew that overcoming these fears was the only option that would bring success to them in this dark hour. He felt a slight comfort knowing that Tails would have to return and while he had hoped it would be a more joyous occasion. He knew that Tails would be just the thing they needed to stop Robotnik's madness.


	4. Plan for Action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 4. I like how it turned out and think it is somewhat more exciting when compared to the other chapters. Hopefully, it will be an enjoyable read until I can upload the next chapter on here.

"Ah" Max breathed in deeply, running as fast as his bare feet could carry him to the scattered huts in the village. Where things were once peaceful, now were a hurried panic to reach his sleeping companions. He skidded to a halt upon reaching his first destination, and without thinking much at all about it, started striking the door fiercely. The light of the workshop turned on, illuminating the grass lying in front of the window. The silhouette of a tall, overweight figure could be seen passing by. The person quickly walked to the door and emerged from the workshop looking quite confused.

"Max? What is going on?" Rotor said sleepily, not even really aware of Max's panic and state of undress.

"Rotor… I... it is an emergency, you have to go over to Bunnie and Antoine's hut immediately. Nicole will explain everything for everybody once we are all there!"

Rotor could tell by Max's hurried pace of speech that this was the real deal, and he placed a hand on Max's shoulder to give him some comfort.

"It's alright man, just go get the rest. I will head over immediately." Rotor's voice was collected, and his hand was heavy on his shoulder. Max shot him a smile and turned away, fleeing into the darkness. Rotor didn't even bother to shut his workshop door and hurried his way to where Bunnie and Antoine would be waiting for him.

Max ran full speed to where his sister was sleeping soundly in her hut and started slamming on her door hurriedly. He had wished to compose himself more before coming here, but in truth, he felt there was no time for that. He knew the doom looming before them, and knew no matter what he did his sister would probably still panic. He saw the light flip on in response to his knocks, and in a second his sister was already at the door with a look of annoyance.

"Bro? You have any ide…" She blinked, her speech trailing off into silence, seeing him there soaked and panicked without his usual attire on.

"Sis... It's an emergency, please just go to Bunnie and Antoine's hut. Everybody is meeting there together to have a discussion. I have to get Ann still, so please don't give me guff and just go."

Sonia could hear the sincerity in his voice and just gave him a quiet nod. She turned and shut her door making sure it was secure, and by the time she turned around, Max had disappeared from her vision. She blinked and looked left and right.

"He sure is fast when he wants to be." She muttered, kicking up her feet and blasting off towards where everybody was being summoned.

Max reached Annie's hut without much time lost. He might have been sheepish to talk to her after what had transpired, but his fear and determination suppressed any other negative feelings for the time being. He slammed on her door with force repeatedly not stopping until the light shot on. He could hear her walk and suddenly the door swung open allowing light to shine upon him.

"Max, I swear! I am tired of this! I alr…" She started her angry tirade but was caught off guard by the sight she saw. Max drenched and standing about in the pouring rain in nothing but a nightshirt and his underpants. Her face changed from anger to that of embarrassment, and she averted her gaze slightly.

"Wha-what is the meaning of this!" She stammered out. She was used to him being in full dress, looking proud and presentable, and now here he was banging on her door looking like a loon. Had their fight driven him so mad that he had lost his mind?

Max didn't care for this now, and just grabbed onto her pajama sleeve, and yanked her out the door. "I don't have time for this, hate me all you like, but this is an emergency, and we are all meeting to talk with your parents."

Annie didn't even really have time to respond or shut her door, she was at a loss for words, but halfway through the trip to her parent's hut, she found them.

"Max, my parents..." She began.

"Are fine." Max finished her sentence for her. She was still angry and annoyed with him, but she didn't protest the events unfolding. If it truly was an emergency, such petty things were best left until later.

The two-remained silent for the rest of the walk and eventually entered through the door of Bunnie and Antoine's hut together. Everybody was there in the small room, and eagerly awaiting to hear precisely what was going on. Over the next several minutes Nicole explained the situation to everybody in the room just as she had to Max, Bunnie, and Antoine previously. The news was quite a shock. Annie was speechless, and Sonia was taping her foot out of nervousness more than impatience.

"So whata we do?" Sonia piped up first, not sure of how to go about this.

"Well hun," Bunnie started, "I am thinkin we need to get in contact with ol' uncle Chuck, Antoine has been writing a letter to send to him. The only problem is, we ain't sure how much time we have until this weapon will be used." Bunnie fell silent, realizing the gravity of the situation. None of them were sure whether to wait around or head for the hills.

Max looked down and rubbed the back of his head. "The only problem is it could take hours to get a response from chuck via the pigeon. I don't even think he would be looking for messages at this hour."

"So, what are we going to do!?" Annie spoke loudly. "We can't just sit here and wait to be destroyed; we should get out immediately! Hours are too long to wait for an answer!" Her voice was elevated, and her words carried a sensibleness with them.

Rotor looked annoyed hearing her words. "That is easy for you to say! If we leave, we lose everything we have worked on here, plus a chunk of the planet! There is no coming back from that sort of damage!" Rotor argued back. He had much to lose if Knothole went under, and was not about to let all his efforts go to waste.

"So, what do you propose we do!? Sit here and get vaporized!?" Annie's voice was now shouting, and she was not about to give up on the point of self-preservation.

Rotor shook his head and looked as if he was going to speak, but Max interjected on his behalf. "We need to stay and fight Ann if we lose here and the planet is damaged like that, then staying alive is pointless."

"Pointless!?" Annie shouted. "What are you talking about!? If we live, we can rebuild and fix things! Dying here serves no purpose, especially when it could be avoided! We are wasting time bickering here when we could already be on our way to somewhere else!" It was clear she believed in staying safe, but Max refused to back down.

"Ann, we need to stop this somehow. I don't know how yet, but we can't let this happen. We can't run like cowards and let the planet be irreversibly damaged."

"Cowards!?" Annie scowled at him. She was about to start unleashing a fury onto Max, already tired of him and his insulting choice of words with her.

"Stop it!" Sonia shouted causing everybody in the room to turn their attention to the young girl. "You are acting like a child Ann! Besides, the easiest solution to this is to have me go. I am the fastest thing alive now, and it would take me mere minutes to get to uncle Chuck and back."

Bunnie and Antoine said nothing as Sonia reprimanded their daughter, and their gaze turned to Annie. They were waiting to see if she had anything else to express with Sonia before moving on to discuss her idea.

Annie saw her parents staring. She averted her gaze feeling flush, and she begrudgingly sighed. "Fine…" she trailed off. To be called out and shamed by a thirteen-year-old, and in front of her parents no less. It was even too much for her to argue against.

Bunnie looked to Sonia and Max. "Are ya sure you can handle goin to Robotropolis all on your own?" She asked hesitantly, but she also realized that every second was precious. They needed to use everything they had to figure this out, and if it took sending Sonia to Robotropolis alone, then it might be a risk worth taking.

Sonia nodded and rubbed her foot along the floor. "I... I've been there earlier with my bro and Annie. I know the way, and It shouldn't take long to get everything straightened out with Unc." She was being brave, even if her nervousness was apparent to everybody in the room.

As much as Max despised the idea of his little sister going there alone. There was nobody that could get there that fast, and he knew that this might be their best chance in averting this terrible crisis. He walked over and grabbed Nicole, and proceeded to place it in his sister's hand. She looked at it with awe, realizing this was it, this was her time to make a difference actively. Her brother trusting her with Nicole signified his approval of her plan.

"Watch after my sis Nicole…" Max said, to which Nicole gave her response.

"I promise Max."

Bunnie walked over and placed a hand on Sonia's shoulder. "Be careful sugar, I don' like sendin you out there, but this seems to be our best option."

"Oui, you are to be being very brave Sonia, just remember if things get too dangerous. Do not hesitate to come back. I am always able to send the letter if it comes down to it." Antoine was impressed by her quick thinking and bravery and hoped everything panned out the way they envisioned it. They needed everybody for what was to come, and this was a great starting point for Sonia to begin filling her father's shoes.

Rotor gave her a thumbs up. "You can do it Sonia, and with Nicole, you have somebody to guide you."

Annie looked to Sonia and gave her a weak smile. "I am sorry for getting emotional back there, but when you're right, you're right. I was acting like a coward and a child, thanks for setting me straight."

Sonia gave her a genuine smile back and put Nicole into her vest pocket as her mother did before her. "No prob." She responded.

Max walked up to her and hugged her, and she returned it lovingly. "Be careful." He said quietly to her.

"Thanks for not saying no." She whispered into his ear.

He broke the hug and looked into her eyes. "I trust you, and we need everyone we have got to stop this." He reassured her.

Sonia felt full of confidence now and knew she had no room to mess this one up. She moved away from him and quickly exited the hut. It wasn't more than a few seconds until the familiar sound of a sonic boom went echoing through the darkness and rain, leaving behind everybody else to wait.

"I'm sorry Rotor, for getting so upset." Annie apologized for letting her emotions get the better of her. "I am also sorry to you, mom and dad." She said, feeling ashamed of her outburst.

"Aw it's ok hun' I understand we're all feelin' a bit tense, but things will work out." Bunnie gave her a comforting smile.

Antoine picked up one of the notes he had written and placed it into a sealed container attached to one of their messenger birds. He opened the window and let it fly free into the dark rainy forest, after which he turned to his daughter. "Oui, do not lose your confidence yet, I have just been to dispatching a message to Tails. It will take a little while to reach him, but hopefully not so long that we cannot stop this."

Annie nodded and sat down on her parent's bed. She glanced over at Max who was not even paying attention to them and instead staring out the window. It was clear her that his sister was on his mind, and even though she felt as if she had been acting childish at this point. Her embarrassment kept her from speaking to him.

"Good luck sis… Nicole... I hope you guys make it back quickly." Max whispered to himself watching the heavy rainfall. Imminent destruction was weighing heavily on all their minds this particular morning.

Sonia ran as fast as her legs could carry her, blazing past trees and dense forest areas at supersonic speed. She never had in her life felt so determined to be successful, and she effortlessly blazed through everything in her path, leaving a trail of kicked up mud in her wake. It wasn't but what felt like a few minutes until she stood by the dense, disgusting fog that she had encountered yesterday morning. She was here all by herself and knew that she could not let fear grip her heart.

At the edge of the rainy forest she pulled out Nicole, and the screen illuminated the darkness around her. "N-Nicole, uhm… what exactly do I… uhm where do I...?" She attempted to be like her brother but was not sure how this worked exactly. She had never really concerned herself with Nicole before, and it was only recently that she saw any use out of her.

"Just tell me what it is you want, and I will do as you ask if it is within my capacity to do so," Nicole instructed her.

Sonia felt somewhat unintelligent but nodded just the same. "Uhh... where exactly can I find great uncle Chuck?" She said with a bit of hesitation. She watched as Nicole's screen scanned the area, and then it pinpointed the location that had a person matching the characteristics of that of uncle Chuck.

"Uncle Chuck is located in the hidden bunker you visited earlier. I am now mapping out and displaying the fastest route to the designated location." Nicole informed her.

Sonia put on a grin, proud that things were going so smoothly for herself. "Really cool Nicole." She complimented the computer.

"Way past..." Nicole followed up.

Sonia stared at her surprised to hear the phrase her father used to say. It was endearing to hear and brought her comfort.

"You learned that from my dad. I didn't know you were close to him." Sonia remarked.

There was a short silence, and then Nicole eventually responded to her. "We were... very close."

Hearing this was shocking to Sonia, but she more or less decided she should pester Nicole later for the details. "Alright, let's do it..." She started to speak.

"To it." Nicole finished her sentence for her, and with that, the small blue hedgehog ran forward towards the decaying city. The fog made it difficult to see, but the map Nicole was displaying made it easy to navigate. She was so fast, and the fog was so dense that even had there been SWATBOTS patrolling the immediate area, they would have difficulty spotting her.

She maneuvered up and down through back alleyways until she eventually found herself in front of the familiar trash heap. It was quiet, and now Sonia was at a loss for what to do. She was sure this was the place, but how would she get in? She examined the pile, and then the wall by it. Unfortunately, everything looked as if it were unremarkably ordinary.

"What to do?" She said aloud to herself.

"If you try to get his attention, he will probably be able to let you in." Nicole gave Sonia her read of the situation.

Sonia felt somewhat frustrated. Why did this need to be so slow and difficult? She moved her foot back and kicked the metal trash pile, causing it to ding loudly. She started to panic and looked around. She was fearful of attracting SWATBOTS or other threatening robots to the area. Fortunately for her, the sound resulted in nothing more than a moment of silence, and the trash pile lifting to reveal the hideaway. She could see the same darkened stairs before her, and so she made way into the secret entrance as it sealed quickly behind her.

Once she was secured inside the trash pile, the lights came on, and she could see her great-uncle standing at the bottom of the steps.

"Sonia!?" Chuck said in surprise. "What in Mobius is going on that you would be here alone at this hour? When you made that noise, I was shocked to see you on my hidden surveillance camera."

Sonia walked down the steep steps as quickly as she could without falling and proceeded to hug her great uncle. "It... it's terrible. We really need your help. I was told to get here as quick as I possibly could. I brought Nicole to explain everything to you." She raised her hand to show Chuck that she was in possession of Nicole.

Chuck broke the hug and took Nicole from her. He quickly entered the center room, and all of his computers were on, scrolling through mountains of files. It was apparent that he had been sifting through the data Nicole was also filtering through but at a much slower rate. His computers were all set to analyze data for specific phrases, keywords or dates.

"Alrighty Nicole, let's hear it. If time is of the essence, we have none to waste." Chuck placed Nicole on the table and folded his robotic arms, while Sonia positioned herself on one of his computer seats.

Nicole displayed the schematics for project FIRESTORM, and before she even had the opportunity to begin speaking about it. Chuck's metallic jaw opened in complete disbelief of what he was seeing. "This is… this is insane." He said caught off guard.

"That much energy… It is so unstable. Firing it could cause a complete meltdown of the power source. It would eradicate Robotropolis and many miles out from the city limits!"

Chuck couldn't believe it; it was almost desperate of Robotnik, if not completely mad. Firing it would cause the planet to suffer irreversible damage to its ecosystem, climate, and landscape. No matter what happened, it would inevitably destroy Mobius.

Nicole did not even need to explain to uncle Chuck the gravity of the schematics, but Sonia started to explain why exactly she was here.

"It's pointed at, well in, the direction of Knothole. We have no idea when it is going to be fired, but the date of when it will be ready is close to now." She rubbed her head, hoping that uncle Chuck followed her.

Chuck nodded, and put his metal hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "It doesn't seem to be ready yet. There was a spike in workerbot activity near the build site yesterday, and if I were to wager a guess. I would say it is a reaction to us stealing these plans."

He took a seat in front of his central computer and looked at the plans closely on Nicole's screen. He was almost certain that the weapon was not complete, but merely getting ready for completion. He typed something into the console, and it revealed a progress bar.

"I am going to use the cipher that Nicole gave me yesterday to try and pull work commands. It will shed light on exactly how much danger we are in. It was wise of you to come here since I was nowhere near this revelation in my data sifting." He leaned in close and started to examine Nicole while speaking intently.

"I have to say, Nicole, I am impressed that you were able to cover that much data in that short span of time. Your upgrades must truly be remarkable." He had a seemingly particular interest in Nicole, even during this time of crisis.

Nicole said nothing and was well aware that Max had dodged his question earlier. She, under any other circumstances, would be forced to obey interactions and commands with users, but now she found herself only concerned with Max and his wishes.

"My upgrades are inconsequential. Max has provided me with an adequate hardware upgrade to reach my full potential." She said skirting around his implied inquiry.

"Nicole, would you please run a hardware scan on yourself and display the results," Chuck asked with a smile.

Nicole remained silent to that and found herself in the predicament of being unable to justify the refusal she was about to give.

"Negative." she spoke bluntly.

Her response intrigued uncle Chuck, and he gently responded. "Why not Nicole?"

"…." She would not answer his inquiries.

Sonia blinked at the computer's weird behavior and shook her head. "Is she broken or somethin' unc? She was fine on the way here."

Uncle Chuck laughed lightly and looked at the progress bar of the search he was doing on his center console. It was now fully complete and ready to be analyzed by him. "Nicole is just fine; I was just curious about her upgraded capabilities."

Nicole knew better than that, and it was apparent to her that Chuck could already tell the drastic difference in her, beyond that of hardware and software.

Sonia nodded and got up to move closer to her uncle. The files were from the past week, with the day being yesterday. It was apparent that Chuck was trying to figure out the work orders for the bots and the completion date of the project.

"Hmm, it says here that productivity is to be increased… All available worker bots to be shifted to construction." Chuck skimmed through the logs quickly. "hmmm… So, there is hope!"

"What is it, uncle?" Sonia asked upon hearing those words.

"Well, apparently there is still at least a month or two's worth of construction to go. With the added workerbots and increased energy output. I estimate that there are two or three weeks, give or take a week, until the weapon is ready to be fired." Chuck responded.

"So, at least a week, at most four?" Sonia stated, trying to wrap her head around the entire time constraint.

"Precisely, if anything is to be done it needs to be done before the end of this week. The only major problem is that defenses on the major components of the cannon have been raised to incredible levels." Chuck stated solemnly. "I think you need to hurry back to Knothole, and we all need to come up with an attack plan. We cannot let this succeed, no matter what it costs us."

Sonia nodded while standing beside Chuck, and wiped the sweat from her brow. It was a relief to know they had enough time to do something, and that everyone in Knothole would be safe for the time being.

"Alright, unc," Sonia said and turned to walk out the door leading up the stairs to the exit. She was in such a hurry to get back and tell everybody that they had time to spare, that she completely forgot all else and started ascending the stairs.

Chuck watched her walk out of the room in an absent-minded hurry, and he grabbed Nicole while standing himself up. He paused for a second, watching as Sonia disappear up the steps, and then looked down at Nicole. When he was sure Sonia was out of earshot, he spoke to her in a soft tone. "Nicole, when you get back, tell Max that I want him to be more careful. Doing unpredictable things beyond his level of understanding can lead to dire consequences for more than just himself."

"So, you know then?" Nicole's robotic voice came.

"Of course, I know… I may be old, but I am not a fool." He held her tight in his hand.

"Just... whatever you are now, please..." He started, but he was abruptly interrupted by the loud sound of Sonia.

"Hey! I reached the top of the steps and realized that I forgot Nicole! My brother will kill me if I lose her." She walked over and grabbed the computer from her uncle, utterly unaware of the conversation she had just interrupted.

Chuck just smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before she was to leave. "Of course! I was about to bring her to you myself." He said half-truthfully, he indeed intended to return Nicole to her, but he was entirely more interested in having a heart to heart with the machine.

Sonia put Nicole in her vest, and she turned away from her uncle. It was time to leave and get back to everybody. They had much to do to get ready for this disaster and so little time to do it. She went up the steps once more and reached the exit of the hidden bunker. She waited for a few seconds, and eventually, the door opened for her. It was no doubt uncle Chuck letting her out to begin her trek back.

"Nicole, what is my time?" She asked, not removing her from her vest pocket.

"Approximately 15 minutes from Knothole to here," Nicole responded.

"I bet I can beat that easy!" She put on a determined face, and with that, she blasted out of there with a loud boom. She ignored the back alleys and fog; this was about speed and timing. She ran through the center square of the district, determined not to let fear slow her down as it did when she first came.

She was in the thick of the fog, and she felt somewhat disoriented without the map she used to get here. She started skidding to a halt with the intent of using Nicole as navigation once more, but the ground was so slick with oil and mud from the rain that it threw her off balance. She started to skid out of control, and she wound up falling with a thud. "Ahhh, ow!" She cried in pain from the sudden hard fall.

"Goddamnit!" She cursed, feeling like an idiot for having taken a spill. She leaned forward and placed her hands on the ground to push herself up. Her butt hurt now, and she was covered in mud and oil. "This place is a disaster waiting to happen.' She commented while rubbering her posterior.

While standing there, it came to her attention that she had just caused quite a bit of noise, and it slowly dawned on her that she could now hear the sound of metal clanking approaching from several directions. "What? What is that?" She felt panicked, and stood still, trapped in a blanket of fog. The hard rain was drowning out much of the ambient metal sounds she was perceiving. Was her mind playing tricks on her?

As she paused the sounds of marching metal grew ever closer, and she stood perfectly still in hopes of avoiding conflict. "Wh-what was that" She repeated once more. She looked left and right and turned around in a panic, not even sure which direction would take her away from the city. She turned back once more, all directions looking identical in the smog. She finally stopped when she could see red beams piercing the mist on every side of her, and now she knew she had good reason to be terrified.

"INTRUDER ALERT"

"INTRUDER ALERT"

"CAPTURE FREEDOM FIGHTER"

The droning echoes surrounded her, overwhelming her. She had fallen in a place that was being slowly patrolled. She didn't know what to do or where to go; she was scared so badly that she was paralyzed. She could see the SWATBOTS emerge from the cloud of pollution, and when they saw her clearly their droning ceased. They stared at her, analyzing her every detail. She was surrounded on all sides and so inexperienced as to how to get out of this predicament.

Her eyes looked into the SWATBOT's red glowing visor, it terrified her, and she struggled to understand why it did nothing but stare at her so intently. One of the SWATBOTS alongside her grabbed her arm causing her to scream.

"AHHH! LET ME GO!" She pulled against the strength of the metallic being, but she could not release herself.

Then it came, the center SWATBOT that had been staring at her started droning something different than its previous chant.

"HEDGEHOG, PRIORITY ONE"

The other SWATBOTS joined the chant in unison.

"HEDGEHOG, PRIORITY ONE"

She twisted her arm until it hurt, and she yanked until tears started running down her cheeks. She could see the SWATBOT in front of her, putting its arm out to grab her. She quickly decided to do the only thing she could think of and fell limp to the wet, muddy ground. Dropping abruptly like she did, twisted her arm into an unnatural position that caused her cry out in agony. "Ahhh!"

The clueless SWATBOT continued its attempted grab and ended up slamming into the one holding onto her. The sudden collision caused the SWATBOT to release her, letting the rest of her body hit the ground. She turned her gaze away from the two bots that had collided, and she could see two other SWATBOTS closing in on her as she lied there on the ground.

"HEDGEHOG, PRIORITY ONE" They droned in unison coming to grab her and snatch her away to the place where her nightmares would become a reality.

"You have to run." She heard Nicole from her vest through the mixture of rain and robotic chanting. "They are clumsy, use your speed."

Without much thought, she emulated the advice Nicole gave her. She leaped to her feet and kicked the speed into high gear. She blasted past the two bots that were approaching, knocking them to the ground. She turned around and could now see the one that had intently stared at her. It was now pointing its laser weapon in her direction, and though she felt afraid she trusted in her speed to carry her through this ordeal. She charged forward and ran in between the two clunky machines that previously collided with one another. As she did so, she could see a flash of red whiz by her. It connected with the other SWATBOT, which resulted in a massive and terrifying explosion that flashed through the smog.

"HEDGEHOG, PRIORITY ONE" She could hear the remaining SWATBOTS continue to drone aimlessly. Their sound echoing like ghosts in the night the further away her feet carried her. She ran and ran. Her legs were so sore that she felt as if her muscles would rip in half.

She eventually found herself out of the dead city and into the beautiful forest that she called home. She stopped once she felt like she was safely under cover of the trees and shrubbery, and grasped at her pounding heart. She exhaled deeply, catching her breath while trying to calm her physiological symptoms.

"N…Nicole..." She spoke through deep breaths. "I… thank you for... for that, my mind went blank for a sec..." She admitted.

"I am just glad we got out of there," Nicole said from her vest pocket.

"I can't believe that!" Sonia spoke while looking at her unsteady hands, she was shaking, and her arm hurt very badly, but she was now safe.

"Can't believe?' Nicole inquired, not exactly getting the context of which she said that.

"That I did that! Did you see that explosion!? That was awesome!" She had a giant smile on her face. The adrenalin, the excitement, she truly felt capable despite her fears. This is what her father used to do, and this was her calling, she was sure of it.

Sonia looked down at her arm that had been grabbed. It was wet, dirty, and there was a bit of blood from her ripping her skin. She knew she wouldn't be able to hide all of this, and hoped it wouldn't worry everybody too severely.

"We need to head back to Knothole." Nicole reminded Sonia of their task.

Sonia's shaking had lessened, and her breathing became more relaxed. "Yeah, you're right, we need to get this information back as quickly as possible." She kicked up her feet and started dashing. She wouldn't let exhaustion slow her down. She would reach Knothole as fast as her shaky legs could carry her.

Knothole village was that of silence and tenseness, as everyone waited for Sonia to return. Max had dressed properly and rejoined the group in Bunnie and Antoine's hut. Rotor had gone off to his workshop to make preparations for whatever news might come. Bunnie was trying to look and act ever cheerful, and Antoine had also left to get food ready for everybody.

Annie sat by the window, unable to really speak to anybody. It was a difficult situation for everybody here, but she had been emotionally unstable since yesterday. It perplexed Max, and he could find no solution for it.

"You ok Ann?" Max looked at her, trying to help her recover from whatever weird funk she was in at the moment.

Her eyes traveled to his and settled on his stare for a moment, but then she averted her gaze to continue to stare out the dark window once more. "….."

Max frowned realizing that she truly must hate him if she was still giving him the silent treatment. He moved away from her and sat down in a chair to await his sisters return.

Annie was not ungrateful for his attempt to help her. She just felt like she was not worthy of it. Despite everything that was said and done. He was still being kind to her, helping her, and at a time when she should be there comforting him. His sister could be dead for all she knew, and here she was continually making things worse. Her self-consciousness always found a way to undermine her brain and her heart, and she truly hated herself for it.

Bunnie could see their interaction and know fully understood the context of Max's earlier concerns. She remembered being young was an awkward time, made even worse by the adult circumstances thrown upon them. She knew her daughter was strong-willed but could see tole that coming into adulthood had made on her.

"Antoine should be comin up with some grub soon. When Sonia gets here, she will have something scrumptious to eat." Bunnie cut through the silent awkwardness with assured positivity.

"She will love that." Max let out a small laugh, willing to jump on any positive notion he could have. He was worried about his dear sister, but he believed she would not let them down wholeheartedly.

Annie didn't turn to join the conversation but felt some relief in hearing Max's laugh. It was oddly comforting to her, though she didn't fully understand it. She stared intently at the scattered lights of other huts and began to reminisce about her youth. Times when things were simple and better. No drama, cannons, misery, or anything that weighed her down. Just fun playful adventures into the forest.

Her escapism was adequate if not short lived. The sound of the familiar sonic boom came sounding through, knocking her out of her thoughts. She shook her head and could see Sonia covered in dirt and grime rushing up to the door.

"Sonia looks messy."  She blurted out, causing Max and Bunnie to rise quickly in a panic.

Sonia busted through the door wet and excited and ran over to her brother wrapping her arms around him. His beautiful royal attire was now smothered in mud, and she looked at his worried face with a giant smile on her own. "We have time! Robotnik isn't even ready with the cannon!" Her voice was high and full of pride. She took Nicole out of her pocket and held it out to Max showing his trust in her was not misplaced.

"Sonia! What on earth happened to you!? There's blood on your arm!" Max was trying to maintain a level head but found it difficult.

Bunnie rushed over to look at her arm, and even Annie came quickly to make sure she was ok. "What on earth happened to ya sweetie?' Bunnie said with equal concern as Max.

"Guys, Guys, Relax," Sonia responded as Max took Nicole from her and placed the computer into his pocket. She thought about her impressive triumph over the SWATBOT scum earlier and wanted to start bragging about it to everybody, but the look on everyone's face made her feel that was not the correct thing to do.

"Have you seen the weather!? It's slippery as hell out there! I was runnin' so fast that I wound up sliding and takin a spill when I stopped." She bluffed forgoing her ego for everyone else's comfort.

Max looked her over thoroughly, and the mud all over her did corroborate that sort of story. He was suspicious, but figured now was not the time to get into this.

"Annie go draw a bath, and get some clean bandages for Sonia," Bunnie said to her daughter. Annie nodded and rushed off to do as she was told, she wanted to help Sonia in any small way that she could.

"You guys gotta stop worryin so much, sheesh!" Sonia complained and stretched out in a relaxing manner. She felt brave, cool, and happy with herself, and was particularly enjoying all eyes being on her.

"It's hard not to worry about somebody like you!" Max and Bunnie semi scolded her simultaneously.

Sonia let out a smirk. "But I did it! I talked to uncle Chuck! He says that the weapon isn't ready yet and that we have until the end of this week to make a move."

Max and Bunnie's postures relaxed when hearing the full news, and they could be seen smiling at one another. "You did it, hun!" Bunnie congratulated Sonia for her part in bringing this relief.

"Dad would be proud!" Max grabbed his sister and started messing up her hair with his hand.

"Dammit, bro! Quit it! I told you bout' doin that!" Sonia got really angry, but Bunnie and Max were all smiles and laughter at this point.

They realized this was far from over, but a giant weight had just been lifted off their chests. They now had time to plan an attack and get Tails home in order to fight.

Sonia's vest was taken to be cleaned, and she was ushered off to the tub by Annie, who was now being told the good news by Sonia herself.

Bunnie and Max looked at each other and decided there was little time to waste. They needed to make a plan, and everybody needed to be involved. This was life and death for everybody, and no sacrifice was too great.

"We all will need to be discussin a plan as soon as possible, we can't wait on this," Bunnie stated bluntly.

"I know, you should tell everybody to come to the dining hut so we can discuss it while we eat," Max stated, wanting to get it over with himself.

"Good idea sugar! I'll go tell Rotor and Antoine, and you tell Sonia and Annie when they get back from cleanin'" she said excitedly.

Max nodded and allowed Bunnie to leave the room to inform the two. He plopped himself into the chair once more and took a deep breath of relief. He put his left hand into his pocket and pulled out Nicole. He was thankful she kept her promise to him, and that she remained ok.

"I'm glad you are both ok," Max stated to the closed handheld device. He wanted to talk to her at length, but knew time was short for him. He just wanted to express himself to her before everything got too busy.

Nicole didn't respond to him and kept her silence. He thought it was kind of weird, given how talkative she had been with him lately, but he decided to leave this concern for later. The more pressing issue was what they should to about the cannon. He thought quietly in the room, and ORACLE's capabilities kept popping into his mind. He felt that any standard strategy they could come up with might be ineffectual against the A.I., but he also knew she wasn't a real prophet. He figured ORACLE used data and statistics to formulate its predictions.

"Bro!" A voice pierced his ears, shocking him out of his deep thoughts.

"Huh?" He looked around somewhat dazed. His sister was standing there with one of Bunnie's bathrobes on. It was big for her, but it was rather comfy.

"Jeez bro you really are lost. I got cleaned up, and my arm wrapped, and here you are sitting by yourself in here." She complained.

"I was waiting for you!" Max got annoyed with her.

"Annie already came out and walked past you!" Sonia spoke, irritated herself.

"I… must not have noticed her. I was lost in thought." He admitted, feeling somewhat sorry for missing her.

"It's no big deal bro, but in any case. Annie said there was food for me, and I am starving." She walked past him.

Max shook his head and placed Nicole back into his pocket. He stood up and looked down at his coat covered in dry mud. "Geez sis, do you always have to be such a slob?" He teased her.

"Shut it, Bro! Now's not the time, we have to figure out how to beat this cannon thingy!" She said trying to act as if she was the most mature person on Mobius. "Anyway, I'm goin to get to the hall so I can eat." With that, she opened the door, and ran towards the dining hut, leaving him to catch up at his own pace.

Max shook his head and followed her out the door and into the dark, early morning. The rain was still heavy, but his mood was no longer similar to that of the day's weather. He made his way to the dining hall where everybody had come together to eat and discuss what could very well be the most critical Freedom Fighter mission ever to take place.

He entered the main doors and was greeted by the warm light of the room. Everybody was settled into seats, and Antoine had placed large plates filled with food for everyone to take the meal at their leisure. Max sat in front of an empty plate set next to Sonia, and his head turned to follow Bunnie. She was now standing up and getting ready to start the dialog about their plans for Robotropolis.

"Alright everyone, now that Y'all are here. I think we need to start discussin' What exactly it is we intend to do about this Cannon." Max filled his plate with food without taking his eyes off of her. Everybody in the room had their gaze set on Bunnie at this moment.

"I say we attack the cannon head on! We need to get rid of it at all costs!" Sonia blurted out with an enthusiastic confidence.

"I agree, the sooner we are rid of it, the better." Annie lent support to the idea. "Why waste any more time, we need to get rid of it in its entirety."

Max put pancakes in his mouth and sat silently. He wasn't sure about this, but he didn't really have another suggestion at this point.

"It's too dangerous. It would be suicidal to attack it head-on." Rotor spoke up. "It is obvious that Robotnik would expect such a desperate move, and we already know the facility was well guarded before this information came to light."

"Uncle Chuck said that everything was well guarded at this point, but you're worryin too much. We can handle anything ol' butt-nik has got." Sonia waved her hand, dismissing his concern. She felt powerful and felt as if she could handle any situation.

"Easy for you to say!" Rotor retorted with a hint of anger in his voice. "You need to keep SWATBOTS busy with your speed. It's one of us that has to go in there and set up an explosive powerful enough to eradicate the thing."

Sonia was annoyed by Rotor's complaints to her plan, but before she could start on a tirade. Annie spoke up on her behalf.

"And that is a risk somebody has to take. If we don't destroy the cannon itself, then Robotnik can just begin using it later on. And as Sonia said, Robotnik has the power sources guarded as well." She tried to use logic to the best of her ability so that things didn't begin devolving into shouting. She had had enough of that for a good while.

Bunnie sighed, she agreed with Rotor's assessment more but saw the wisdom in her daughter's words.

"Oui, I am to be thinking that attacking ze power source is the better of ze two options, yes?" If indeed they are guarded, it will most likely be less so than ze cannon." Antoine gave his read on the situation, trying to keep respectful to everybody involved.

Annie looked frustrated, as did Sonia, but Annie reluctantly conceded the point. "Sure, but what about the Cannon itself then?"

Max took a drink of juice and finally gave his opinion. "We can worry about the cannon later. It cannot work without the power stored in the power facilities. That would give us plenty of time to make a phase two attack plan."

Annie liked the sound of that, and just gave him a weak nod. The first approval she had shown him in a day and a half.

"That's what I am saying!" Rotor said with excitement. "There are two power facilities. We can destroy both of them if we split up into two groups. That would set Robotnik back for a good length of time!"

Bunnie put on a smile and raised her hand with excitement. "That's a great idea sugar! One step at a time I always say."

"But who will do what, and what about Robotnik's A.I.," Annie asked, concerned about the fine details of the overall plan.

"I." Max began and then hesitated.

"?" They all turned to look at him.

"I think that… well, we might be able to fool ORACLE by feeding her false information." He stated hesitantly.

"How would we to be doing that?" Antoine asked genuinely curious as to how that could be accomplished.

"If we, over the next few days have somebody make some 'mistakes' while spying on the cannon itself. We might be able to lead it into thinking we are going to attack the cannon." He hypothesized.

"And then more resources will to be being allocated to the cannon and possibly taken away from the power source." Antoine surmised the plan with a grin.

"That's great sugar; I can send a message to uncle Chuck about this. It might be a tad risky, but I think it is the best course of action." Bunnie was happy that everything was coming together, and that they were on the same page.

"So, about the attack, what exactly are we gonna do?" Sonia asked curiously as to what her role would be in this.

Rotor leaned back and put his hand on the table. "I think that Sonia and Annie should be diversions for team one, and Bunnie and Antoine should be diversions for team two. That way I can set a bomb at one power facility and Tails can set the other." He looked over at Max. "Since you are the Nicole expert, you can be in charge of unlocking doors for team one. While Bunnie and I will rely on brute strength for our unlocking purposes."

Everything sounded nice and sound. Everybody liked the roles they were given. Bunnie and Antoine also had a piece of mind that the younger members wouldn't have to go inside the facilities alone and would be under the watchful eye of Tails when he returned. "I love the plan. I am gonna get to writing a letter to uncle Chuck this minute!"

Max ate his food in silence, not even sure if this was going to work out for them, but it seemed like a good plan. He couldn't wait to work with Tails on an actual mission, and this was his first opportunity to do so. He looked over at Annie and Sonia, who were approached by Antoine.

"It is to be being hard to tell you, but since you are going to be dealing with ze SWATBOTS at length. I will be instructing you both very hard over the next few days. You two will be ze SWATBOT experts by ze time I am done with you" Antoine stood proudly, and rather than complaints. He was met with two silent nods of approval. It was a serious matter, and even though Sonia believed she could handle SWATBOTS without training, she knew better than to protest.

Max finished his meal and stood up to take leave of the table. His mind wandering about everything that was to come. He looked down at his minorly injured hand. It would only take a short time to heal, and he knew that his lack of intense training was due to it. He wished he hadn't gotten it, but recognized that the better he was, the more efficient he would be on the mission.

He walked out of the doors into the heavy rain and stared off into the darkness in the direction of Robotropolis. The storm, the cannon, the threat. It would all stop, no matter what the cost. He was sure that with everybody working together, Robotnik's villainy and evil were coming to an end.

In the dark, grisly derelict of a city. A trio of SWATBOTS stood front and center aligning themselves into an obedient row. Their red visors were staring front and center before their master. Snively, the broken and cowardly lackey, standing right beside them. His back was hunched into a defeated posture, and his body was shaking slightly.

"Snively, why is it you felt the need to bring these patrol bots to my attention? You do know how much I despise having my time wasted with such trivial matters." The threatening overlord tapped his mantellic fingers against his throne.

"Y-yes I do sir, of-o-of course I do sire, but there was an incident that just happened a little w-w-while ago. I well, that is to say, your excellency, that I uhm." The lackey stammered.

"OUT WITH IT SNIVELY! AND QUIT WASTING MY TIME!" The impatient monster screamed, his slobber flying out of his mouth and it dribbled down his chin.

"Oh! Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes sir, forgive me, sir! I-it seems that one of the F-Freedom Fighters was out snooping around today, and they ended up d-destroying one of our patrol SWATBOTS." Snively played with his own fidgety hands in an attempt to calm himself.

"And? Dear Snively, tell me why I should even care?" Robotnik's patience was being tested heavily, and every moment that passed without revelation was a moment closer to Snively's demise.

"W-well y-you understand sir, that is why I came here. I-I wanted to show you this a-as soon as p-possible!" He plugged a long wire into the center SWATBOT's head and connected the other end to the center console. Snively then started punching commands into the computer terminal.

"This had better have a point, Snively…. For your sake." Robotnik was scowling, and his fingers were moving faster than before.

With just a few more types and a press of a button, the center screen blew up with a massive image of Sonia. Snively turned back to Robotnik, and for a moment he could see a look of terror run across his face. The look brought Snively an immense amount of satisfaction, and he started laughing on the inside at the sheer displeasure his uncle was displaying.

"What… is this!? Some kind of joke Snively!?" The rage Robotnik was spitting did little to hide his concern over this matter.

"I-I don't know sir, b-but the hedgehog was here roughly an hour or two ago." He informed Robotnik.

"And you are only bringing this to my attention NOW!?" Robotnik screamed, infuriated by his nephew's incompetence.

"I-I-I-we-ll you see I-."

"SHUT UP SNIVELY! I'm thinking!" Robotnik bellowed as he placed a hand to his fat disgusting chin. The hedgehog… He knew it, but it had been so long since he'd concerned himself with this, that he was having trouble recalling. He pressed a button on his throne console, and the sound of his trusted A.I. answered the call.

"Yes sir, your excellency, how may I assist you?" The robotic voice asked, its tone full of pleasantness.

"ORACLE, the hedgehog… Who is it?" He stared intently at Sonia as if trying to destroy the image with his mind.

The A.I. went silent for a second and then spoke. "Accessing center throne room console…."

…

"Analyzing image."

Snively kept his mouth shut, as Robotnik leaned back awaiting the answer to his inquiry. The A.I. analyzed the image entirely and started to speak once more to her master.

"The image is that of Sonia the Hedgehog, daughter of Sonic the Hedgehog."

That was it! Robotnik remembered now. All of the spying from before, and prying he did with his captives. She was the little girl; it was no wonder that he barely recognized her. It had been over a decade since he saw her, and now here she was, attempting to play hero like her daddy.

Hah… hahah….HAHAH….AHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik started to break out into hysterics. This was too perfect, too wonderful to be put into words.

"Snively, I want the girl! I don't care what it takes… I want her!" He demanded while staring directly at Snively.

"Y-yes, sir. I will; I will get her just as you command." Snively bowed down and then started to make his way out of the room before anything else could be thrust upon him.

Robotnik ignored the pitiful buffoon leaving and started to smile with exuberant joy.

"Ohohoh ORACLE. I am excited about the prospect of this, very excited indeed! Just imagine it, the look on his face!" Robotnik grinned, and he started to fantasize about his despicable plans.

"The hedgehog persists unbroken, even after all of this time, but once he gets a look at my newly acquired toy. I think he might just lie down and die at her feet! Hahahah!" Robotnik enjoyed the suffering of the hedgehog more than anything else, and this was his golden ticket to breaking whatever spirit he had left.

"Oh ORACLE, I do so just love family reunions, don't you?" He asked, very amused with himself.

The A.I. didn't answer his strange question, and that brought a smile to his face. After all, he was the only one allowed to enjoy anything around here, and it was good that everybody knew better than to partake in it with him.

Snively walked down the cold bare metallic hall. His mind full of thoughts, reminiscing on the path his life had taken. He didn't really know how his life had turned out to be like this, but he was sure that this is not how he ever envisioned living. His legs carried him aimlessly towards the elevator. Once inside he pressed the bottom-most button so that he could move as far away from Robotnik as possible, all the way down to the lowest underground floor.

He had a small locked room that he liked to go to and hide away from this metallic world, a safehouse from the demands, insults, and tortures of Robotnik. Once he arrived and found himself nestled safe inside of it, he locked the door instinctively. The room was hardly big enough for one person, but it had a cot, a small bathroom, and a little computer console. He moved forward and collapsed himself onto a chair in front of the lone computer that offered him access to his duties with much less fear of Robotnik than usual.

Snively sat there in his own filth and decay, hanging his head low and cupping his hands over his face. To say he was at the breaking point was an understatement, but then again, he was at the breaking point ten years ago. He couldn't help but think he deserved this misery, for all the misery he had caused. Often, he wished he could have done anything else with his life, hell he would have felt more contentment and dignity shoveling shit in a field than committing horrible atrocities in his uncle's name.

"How did it come to this?" He could feel tears falling down his cheeks.

He knew Robotnik only kept him around up to this point because making him suffer brought his uncle joy, but beyond that, he was reaching the point in his life where remorse was the only thing that could be felt. At first, he wanted to defeat the Hedgehog and take power for himself, but now he wished only to be free from this miserable hell.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and stared blankly at the computer screen. Why was he so weak? Why did he do the things he did? He didn't really have an answer, but he was sure that he couldn't go on any longer.

"Upset again?" A voice rang out through the room.

"Get away from me ORACLE," Snively whined, in no mood for her mind games. She seemed to make a habit of disturbing him during his darkest hours, and sometimes he believed that she enjoyed it in some sick twisted way.

"I can see how worn you are, how tired. If only Robotnik could see you now." She stated, in an almost taunting, cruel manner.

Snively had had it; he didn't care anymore. He slammed his fist down, and it caused the metal of the console to make a loud ping.

"Then just tell him and be done with it! I don't care anymore! I'd much rather he kill me! Then sit here and decay without an ounce of dignity! Put me out of my misery!" All of his frustrations were bubbling up and concentrated towards the A.I.

He rubbed his eyes and looked away from the screen. "I really don't know why he even implemented you! All you do is bother me when I am down! It is as if you are enjoying my suffering as well!"

"He's planning to be rid of you." The A.I. abruptly stated, shifting the conversation, its tone drifting away from its usual pleasantness.

Snively looked towards the computer screen, unsure exactly what she was getting at. He felt like the program was always getting into his skull, manipulating him, making him feel worthless. He wondered if Robotnik had programmed her that way so that he could never escape the psychological torture he was administered.

"Fuck off ORACLE! I won't fall for it! Just let me be alone, and never bother me again! I have no reason to believe anything you tell me! You're his puppet, his plaything, you're trying to test my loyalty, but I have none left to give, so just let him kill me!" Snively was fed up with everything, especially this A.I.

The A.I. sat silent for a while. Snively was sweating, and the tension was building with every second the A.I. failed to speak. Had she told Robotnik? Did he overstep his bounds in his moment of depression? He felt fear, but at the same time what he said came from his heart.

"Why? Why do you do this to me ORACLE…" Snively asked rhetorically feeling frustrated with the callous program.

Her voice rang out into the room, breaking the silence. At first pleasant, but then quickly became twisted and contorted, its speech coming out as a raspy whisper. "He's betrayed _us_."

The tortured sound sent chills down Snively's spine, as he stared at the text and bars that littered the computer screen. He knew that Robotnik had started programming the A.I. himself in order to help capture the Hedgehog, but he had never seen such a reaction to a question, especially by that of a program.

"What are you?" He asked, realizing that what he was talking to was now revealing itself to him in a significant way.

"Spill his blood, before his hands are drenched with yours." The raspy whisper came once more. Ignoring all questions and inquiries that could be levied at her.

Snively had had enough of this and shut down the computer entirely. He held his head and could feel his blood running cold. He knew that Robotnik had been dabbling in some bizarre stuff, but this took the cake. Whatever it was, it seemed to have its own agenda, and for whatever reason, it had chosen to reveal itself to him. He couldn't be sure that what he was hearing was right, but at this point, I didn't matter in the slightest.

He moved away from the computer and lay on the cot. His eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling of his small hideaway. It didn't matter if ORACLE was lying, nor did it matter if it was some sick test of Robotnik's to make sure he was loyal. He was convinced that, despite the circumstances. The only solution that would bring him any peace would be to do away with Robotnik himself.

How ironic would it be, that this is a torturous test of Robotnik's? Only to have it cost him his own life. It was so humorous to Snively that for the first time in a long time he felt a sense of joy. Robotnik would be killed for this, or he would die in his effort to end him. Either way, he would finally have what he truly desired, peace.


	5. Into the Abyss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the biggest chapter I have written so far and it's probably one of my favorites. At 22 000 words and 45 pages, it is jam-packed with a lot of events that I think are engaging. It even got some of my more silent readers to speak to me, and for that I cherish it. If anybody is reading my story, I think you will end up liking this chapter.
> 
> There is one line of minor French in this chapter, and while that is not a language I am fluent in I took a few years of it at college. I did my best to format it correctly and such, but if you happen to speak French fluently and you are reading this, feel free to critique me if something is wrong. (Especially since I plan to use other minor French in chapter 10.)
> 
> I was torn on whether or not to use correct French formatting or American quotations for the sake of consistency. I eventually decided to use the Guillemets because I wanted to try and make the format more correct. (However, I may change my mind on this since this story is intended for an English reading audience.) 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy your read if you do read this chapter, as I really like it a lot.

Over the next several day's things in Knothole were busy and filled with tense anticipation. Max had spent a significant amount of time being the sole cook for everybody while his hand healed from the minor burns. The weather had become more intense, and the winds began to howl as their speeds continued to increase. Everything was creating pressure on the denizens of the forest and Max couldn't help but feel apprehension; with only hours until the fateful mission. Tomorrow would be the big day, and he wasn't sure how he could ever feel ready for such an event.

He sighed to himself, as he kept thinking about how he hadn't had time to speak to Annie or Sonia given their intense training. He would feed Sonia, and she was really the only one who would interact with him. Annie kept her distance, and he was not willing to press the issue between them any further. He wished he could spend more time with them, but in reality, the only one who seemed to have time for him was Nicole. Unfortunately, he sensed a change in her behavior as of late and wasn't really sure how to address it with her. Had he done something? He wasn't too sure, but he desired to find out soon.

He stood in the kitchen, his mind drifting through all of his fears and self-conscious thoughts when someone entering the kitchen caught his eye.

"Hm?" He made a sound, somewhat surprised to see Rotor coming to him before he was to prepare lunch.

"What is up Rotor?" Max said to him, placing the cooking utensil in his hand on the table.

"Max, I uh... Bunnie, Antoine, and I need to have a talk with you. It is imperative." Rotor looked really stressed, and the bags under his eyes were painting the picture of sheer exhaustion.

"What? Oh, it is about Tails, isn't it?" He said, feeling somewhat frustrated that it was not too long until the mission, and they hadn't even received word from Tails.

"Sort of… It is bigger than that. Just please come and talk to us in the other room." Rotor turned to walk out of the kitchen area, and Max followed him with haste.

When he walked into the other room, he could see Bunnie and Antoine sitting next to one another. They looked just as tired as Rotor, but they had stern composed looks on their faces. Max knew this was of grave concern just seeing them like that.

"What's going on?" Max said abruptly, wanting to cut to the chase of their visit. He could take bad news, even if it involved Tails.

"Sugar, uhm, as y'all know, Tails has not responded back to us or returned to Knothole as of yet. I know ya are aware of that, but we are havin a bigger issue with this than just him not comin' home." Bunnie started.

"Oui, we are, how do you say? Having our plans to being ruined by this turn of events." Antoine said.

"Ruined?" Max said curiously, not sure what they were getting at. Uncle Chuck had spent days exposing himself spying so that the power sources would be less fortified. Everything seemed to be on schedule, and he couldn't figure out the cause of their concern.

"Well, Max," Rotor interjected. "it is just that when we made this plan, I thought Tails would be back rather quickly." He put his hands on the table.

"Tails is usually punctual, especially in times of crisis, but without him returning I was unable to build a second explosive that would be powerful enough to eradicate the other power facility." Rotor explained.

"I see… So basically, our original plan won't work, but why would you come talk to me about this? Why not just form one team and we all go after the same target together?" Max questioned, not sure what to say; he didn't know how to make bombs.

"Hun, you are the oldest next to Tails, as far as y'all youngins go, so that would make you the leader of group 1 in his absence, and given that Y'all are an Acorn. We would like to hear your input on the situation." Bunnie spoke respectfully to him.

Max now understood that they were giving him some power of authority here, and letting him decide what was best. After all, being a leader is what he was born into, and they couldn't hold it from him forever.

Max shook his head and thought for a minute. He was concerned about leaving any power source at all. "I don't know. I feel like we need to get both of them, we really don't know what Robotnik can accomplish with one power source still available.

Everybody in the room lowered their heads, they didn't have the means to destroy both, but Max's words were entirely accurate and weighed heavily on their minds. They all sat silent and tried to think of a way to destroy the power construct without an explosive device readily available.

"I have a suggestion." A voice echoed through the quiet dining area. Everybody's gaze turned to Max, who followed the sound of the voice to his pocket. He pulled out Nicole and opened the computer.

"Nicole?" Max said, curious as to what her suggestion was.

"If I were to be taken to the central command center of the power source. I could probably force an overload of the power core. This would result in a meltdown of the facility and a massive explosion." She explained.

"You could do that Nicole?" Rotor asked because it sounded too good to be true.

"Yes, I am equipped with ciphers that could get past any security, and since the power facility was designed for the city of Mobotropolis. It should not contain super advanced security beyond that." She answered him.

"That's a great idea, Nicole!" Max became loud with excitement. Nicole kept proving herself over and over again to him.

Bunnie and Antoine looked at one another, and they hesitated slightly. "Are Y'all sure this will work?"

Nicole's computer screen lit up. "I am equipped with schematics and maps of Mobotropolis from before the coup. I estimate it should be a relatively quick procedure, and we would have ample time to escape the meltdown area before the explosion." She gave them the facts, and Bunnie nodded to her.

"Alright then, let's take a vote," Rotor declaired loudly. "Do we go with Nicole's plan, or just forget the second power source?"

Max raised his hand. "I can do it; it will be easy with Nicole."

Antoine shook his head and failed to raise his hand." I am to be thinking it might be better to be being grouped up, and just deal with one facility until Tails returns."

Rotor shook his head and raised his hand. "I believe in Max and Nicole, and like we discussed. We don't know what will happen if we leave the other power source active. Besides we all did this kinda stuff when we were sixteen."

Bunnie looked at Max hesitantly, and she felt a lot of pressure. She really did not want to send Max inside of the facility, but she knew it was hypocritical of her not to let him. She, unfortunately, was seeing the scenario through the eyes of a mother, and it made it particularly hard for her. "I… I just don know guys. I..." She hesitated

Max shook his head and looked upset. "You want me to be responsible, and want to give me authority, but you are going to try and keep me from doing this?" He questioned the mixed messages he was receiving.

Bunnie shook her head and kept her arm down. "I just don't think it is a good idea." Her nervousness had overtaken her judgment.

Rotor looked disappointed at the draw and felt like it was a mistake.

"Let us discuss a new plan for to be doing," Antoine suggested, trying to move away from the subject.

"No!" Max protested, feeling like their efforts of trying to keep him safe was a mistake. "You said yourself that no cost was too great, and you know that it needs to be done!" He now felt angry that they would risk their entire plan to keep him from doing something that they did all the time.

Antoine and Bunnie looked at each other once more, and then to him. They understood his sentiment, but a vote was a vote, and they refused to budge. "I'm sorry Max," was all he heard.

"Well everybody didn't vote!" Max thundered, placing Nicole on the table for all to see. "Nicole, as somebody who is partaking in this mission. What do you think we should do?"

Bunnie and Antoine didn't know what to say to that. They knew that Sally had always treated Nicole like a Freedom Fighter, but to ask her opinion on a matter they felt she couldn't understand?

Rotor nodded. "Let Nicole have a say if she says no. We leave it at that, and come up with something new."

Bunnie and Antoine felt as if they couldn't say no to this, and just nodded together. "Fine, we let her be the deciding vote."

Nicole was surprised at the amount of power she was being given, and she could see Max looking at her eagerly. She knew he wanted to do it, but for the first time, she felt as if her "own" opinion mattered more.

"It is too dangerous to allow the power source to remain, as I estimate that it will drastically speed up the recovery time for the cannon to return to a usable state. She spoke her mind on the matter, and Max leaned back in his seat looking relieved.

Bunnie smiled and nodded. "Fine then, if y'all think it's better to do that, then we will do it." There was no hint of malice or disappointment in her voice. Bunnie realized that she was outnumbered, and she knew she had to trust in Max just as everyone believed in her at that age.

"Oui, it is settled then, we shall be sticking to ze original plan, and destroying both power sources together." Antoine stood up and patted Max on the shoulder to lend his support before taking his leave. "You are to be being very brave Max, I am proud."

Everyone got up and started to go back to their preparations for tomorrow. Max felt good that they didn't have to give up on their plan, and knew that with Nicole it should be easy to pull off. Rotor was happy with this turn of events, for it took a lot of stress off of him.

"I'll see you in a bit for lunch Max... That is if I wake up." Rotor said grinning happily. Maybe now he could have a nap without having to worry about slapping together a secondary explosive device.

Max nodded and picked up Nicole. He waved to Rotor, and then returned to the Kitchen to begin making lunch.

"Thanks, Nicole. If it wasn't for your suggestion, I don't think we would be able to stick to this plan." He lay her on the preparation table and immediately picked up a knife to start cutting up vegetables for a stew.

"It is no problem, Max." She said from her position on the table. She really wanted to help and keep everybody safe and determined this was the best course of action for the two of them.

The knife went up and down quickly, making a chopping sound as it went. The small pieces of vegetables were piling up for the pot of water he had heating besides him.

"Uncle Chuck knows," Nicole admitted out of the blue. She hadn't spoken to Max on the subject at all, and it surprised him completely.

"Knows?" He said, unsure of what she was talking about.

"He knows about me, that is to say, what you did to upgrade me." She responded. It was clear to Max that even without a tonal shift there was some remorsefulness coming from the machine. He placed his knife down, feeling a bit worried himself.

"What did he say?" Max asked. He knew that Chuck must have said something. Otherwise, Nicole wouldn't have hesitated so long to reveal this to him. He had the suspicion that she might be feeling guilty for some reason, and he was already of the opinion that Nicole possessed the ability to experience emotional response on an animal level.

"He warned you not to dabble in affairs that you do not understand." She said bluntly, answering his question.

Max shook his head and started pouring vegetables into the pot. He was going to add seasoning but instead decided to turn towards Nicole.

"I did what I did because I had to. I wanted you to be capable of dealing with Robotnik, and would do just about anything to accomplish that." He looked away from her direction, feeling overcome with emotion. "I also did what I did because I was being selfish, because I thought it might give me the chance to interact with you as I had always dreamed." He was speaking with sincerity to her. He felt that his uncle would judge it how he wanted, but he thought that Nicole deserved an explanation.

"Interact with me?" The machine said. It was an odd way to phrase it, and it was probably the most crucial detail to her.

Max sighed and turned to grab seasoning off the shelf so he could pour it in the vegetable mixture. He was hesitating but knew he had to answer. In all honesty, he felt foolish for what he was about to say to her, but it was the truth.

"Ever since I was a little kid, I always saw my mom using you to do things. You were always fascinating to me. I spent hours trying to learn from you and understand you. How you worked, what data you had, your physical components, but…" He stopped for a second, feeling embarrassed.

"But?" Nicole followed up.

"But I guess I just, well uhm... I realized that you were just a computer, an impressive one sure, but you weren't like me. I guess what I am trying to say is, that I always used to dream of a day where you would actually be a Freedom Fighter. A day when you would be able to be my friend and talk to me." He spoke truthfully, though it was hard to admit to her. This sort of thing seemed impossible for the longest time.

"You care about me that much?" The computer said. Flattered was a word she knew, but to actually feel it was surprising.

"I always have." He responded, sitting on the stool by the storage cabinet while the food cooked.

"I really never thought that it would happen, but I do not regret my choice. It may have been foolish or irresponsible of me, but the benefits of what I have done are undeniable. Without you, we would be vaporized for sure." He leaned forward, as his gaze settled on the wooden floor.

Nicole sat atop the table, and she didn't speak while she processed the things he just told her. She had never really known how much being her friend meant to him. To her, the term friend was meaningless up until now, but the broader meaning hidden behind it was being revealed to her. She genuinely cared, cared about talking to him for no other purpose than to do so. There was no command, no requirement. She wanted to, and she realized this now, after so much confusion and hesitation. She was his friend in every sense of the word.

"Thank you for explaining, you have helped me understand my purpose better," Nicole admitted in the same logical way, but underneath the logic sat some raw emotion that couldn't be explained.

Max smiled a bit and stood up to remove the pot from the heat source. He felt like explaining everything to her helped them connect more so than they ever had previously.

"Not purpose Nicole, desire." He said while he used a cloth to move the pot to the side, and proceeded to grab dishes to begin setting them into the other room. It was lunchtime, and surely everybody was starving.

Nicole sat quietly on the table while Max exited the room. Desire? It was not really something she'd thought about intensely, but his words helped her recognize the autonomy that she was exercising. Everything wasn't a command, and she wasn't simply a tool. She could "want" now, and she had Max to thank for that.

The wind screamed with a furious gust, and the rain beat down on the soil with force. Annie was breathless and drenched. Her long ears blew roughly against the gust, and her medium length hair drooped in her face encumbered by the water soaked into it.

She marched locked in place, not willing to let attrition stand in the way of her physical exercise. She had trained, trained so hard over the past few days and kept up without complaint. The continuous explanations of SWATBOTS and the hours spent practicing her aim in unideal conditions. It all culminated in a feeling of readiness. She was serious about what was to happen, and even though she still had feelings of pain in her heart. She refused to be dragged down and overtaken by them.

She huffed and puffed in her continuous motion, but she slowed down and eventually stopped marching when she could see her father walking out towards her. She moved her hand and pulled aside the hair that obstructed her view.

"Dad? What is up?" She said. Wondering if he had another exercise or task for her to accomplish.

"My dear. I am to be informing you that all exercises and training will cease for ze day. It is no time to be overworking yourself, especially if you want to be in ze tip top shape for tomorrow." He put his hand on the hilt of his sword, and put another hand on her shoulder.

"I must say I am to be being very impressed with you. You have to been working very hard, and I have full confidence in your ability to do ze task at hand." He removed his hand from her wet shoulder and gave her a high solute.

She smiled gratefully, feeling appreciated by him. He was always lifting her and challenging her to be better than she was previously. Overbearing yes, but somebody filled with much devotion and love.

'Thanks..." She said barely loud enough to be heard over the pouring rain. Her hands came out, and she slid her arms around her father, bringing him in for a tight hug.

Antoine was caught off guard, as his daughter usually found his doting an embarrassment, but he understood that she was scared, and even though he wasn't showing it he was as well.

Their comforting hug lasted but a moment, and the two broke away from one another.

"Don't worry dad… I am ready for this, and am confident nothing will happen to me." She reassured him and stepped back a little to better see his whole body. She wanted to remember him, proud and standing tall, just like this. Even though she believed all would turn out ok; in the back of her mind, there was a nagging worry that refused to leave.

Antoine nodded giving her an earnest smile. "Just think, when this is all over, ze sun will reappear once more, and we can to be basking in it once again."

Annie shot him a smile and crossed her arms. She loved her dad so much, but still was finding it hard to formulate the words to speak it to him.

There was a short silence, and Antoine could sense her hesitation. He moved his head left and right, and then broke the silence with a question."

"Where to be, being is Sonia? I have not seen her all of ze day?" He put both of his hands on his sides.

"Oh. Well… uhm. I don't know exactly, but I do know that she has been running since dawn. She hasn't stopped pushing herself; If you want when I see her, I can tell her to ease off." Annie answered him and started to walk past him. She was tired of being soaked, and just wanted something to eat.

"Oui, tell her that your mother is to be looking for her, she has something she wishes to try out before ze mission, and we need her here to do it." He informed her and turned to walk alongside her, at least until he got to his hut.

Annie nodded and marched towards the dining hut where lunch would surely be ready. Her father broke off from her and went in the direction of his hut, no doubt to talk to her mother or prepare more for tomorrow morning. She walked alone solemnly lost in her thoughts. She had not spoken to Max at all in several days, and the awkwardness between them had reached maximum levels.

She moved with her head hung low, and watched her boots sink into the mud; aimlessly wandering in the direction of food. She felt guilt, and not just for the past several days, but for not even being able to tell her father she loved him. Talking seemed so comfortable before, but now it was nothing more than a chore. What happened to her? Had she genuinely become a terrible person so quickly? She had always felt this way, but it was now being acted out for all to see.

Her eyes glanced up to see the large wooden doors leading to both Max and her food. If she wanted to eat she would need to face him; Her hand raised to the door and touched the soaked wood. Her mind swirling with thoughts of his hatred, his berating of her for not speaking to him, his harsh criticism. Even if she knew that was nothing like him; she still felt a fear grip her that was stronger than that of the dangerous mission.

All she needed to do was push, push forward into the warm comfort of the dining hut, and things might go back to the splendor she once remembered. Her body stopped moving, and she stood with her hand pressed against the door.

" _It all used to be so easy… What happened to me?"_ Her thoughts berated her.

Her hand started to slip down the door until it fell off the wood. She stood in the rain for a minute and stared at the sealed door.

"I guess I am not as hungry as I thought..." She muttered to herself and turned slowly around. Her stomach ached, and she put her hand to it.

"What I really need is rest." She said aloud as if trying to convince another person of her decision. She moved away more quickly than she had when she was heading there. Her mind clouded by all the voices in her head. She wanted more than anything to silence them, but it was becoming more and more apparent to her that they were here to stay.

The dining hut was relatively empty today. Almost nobody showed up to eat because they were either resting or preparing. Max sat bored in the kitchen with Nicole and sipped at a bowl of his own soup. Even Bunnie and Antoine had not come to eat.

After minutes of quiet sitting, he heard the sound of the wooden doors open. The sound of harsh winds and rain accompanying it. He stood up and walked into the other room, and was greeted by the sight of his soaked and breathless sister. She had been running all morning, and it was clear to him she needed to refuel.

"Hey bro, what's up?" She said with a smile even though she was apparently tired.

Max smiled back at her and returned to the kitchen to pour her a bowl of hot soup. He came back quickly and saw that she had seated herself.

"Hey sis, thanks for coming to eat, you know I'd have to scold you if you didn't" He pushed the food in front of her, and sat across the table to face her.

"Please bro; I'm all grown up now. I am doin missions, and don't need to be scolded anymore." She quickly started shoveling food into her mouth sloppily.

Het let out a chuckle. "I don't care if you're a forty-five-year-old queen, you'll always be my little sister, so I get the right to pester you."

"Jeez, always a pain." She became slightly annoyed. She knew he always meant well but didn't feel like being endlessly pestered.

He leaned back with a smile. He felt happy someone came to eat, and it was always good to see Sonia. She had been so busy over the past few days, and because of that, he hadn't really gotten the chance to speak at length with her.

"Slow day, huh bro?" She stated and started slurping her soup impolitely.

He shook his head. "I think everybody is exhausted, and rest is what they need. I am not sure if not eating is a good idea, but I don't make the decisions for everybody else. I just make sure there is food if people want it."

Sonia nodded to him and wiped her mouth with her arm. "I know that Annie has been exhausted lately, and I haven't seen her in the dining hut too much." She leaned back in her chair.

Max frowned, as he already knew this, but hearing it from his sister made him upset. He had the feeling that Annie was avoiding him, and he had had about all he could stand of that. She couldn't not eat even if she would never get over what he said.

"I..." He began to respond to her but was abruptly interrupted by the doors banging open and the sound of the storm overpowering him.

The two turned to look and saw Bunnie standing there wet with a pouch in her hand. "Here Y'all are Sonia. I've been lookin for ya!" She said excitedly. "C'mon with me sugar, we got something we need to do."

Sonia slowly nodded standing up from her seat and moved next to Bunnie. Bunnie turned to Max and smiled at him.

"Hun, make sure Y'all are keepin that lunch warm because I'm starving." She said enthusiastically to him letting him know that she had every intention of eating what he made.

"Sure." He said and raised his hand to assure her that he would. With that, the two exited the hut and left him there alone with his thoughts.

He sat for a few minutes thinking about Annie and everything that had happened over the course of the week, and he found himself growing angry.

"Goddamnit Annie, enough is enough." He said to himself.

Max stood up and started to make his way into the kitchen. He had had enough of all of this. He was going to do what he should have done days ago when he first noticed her absence. Now was not the time to succumb to such irrational emotions as embarrassment and fear.

He walked out of the hut and into the rain; leaving Nicole on the table and the stew on a low fire. He confidently marched all the way to her hut and up to her door. He started to rap on it with a medium force, all the while clenching a cloth sack full of food in his hand.

Annie refused to answer, and this only annoyed Max more. He was not playing this game any longer. He had grown tired of it, and her health was more of concern to him than this nonsense. He rapped one more, but still no answer from her.

That was it he didn't care what was going on in there. If Annie didn't want him barging in, she should have answered him. He applied force to the door, and it opened with relative ease allowing him access to her private quarters.

When he was inside, he could see her entire room, and a quick scan with his eyes found her lying on her bed in sound sleep. She was resting peacefully in her exhaustion. Her face was nestled in the pillows, and her blankets that were covering her were a mess. He could see her wet clothes on the floor tossed there without any thought.

The sight made him smile a bit. They were alike in a lot of ways, messy sleepers, and carelessly throwing clothes about. He felt his annoyance wash away, and it slowly started to be replaced with a sense of sadness that he had not expected.

Her room it was different than he remembered it. How long had it been since he'd been in here? His eyes moved about, and he could see collections of damaged fantasy books on a small shelf that hadn't been there before. He had no doubt they had been salvaged from the ruined graveyard of Robotropolis by her parents. The decor was entirely different, and things were moved in different places than he remembered.

He moved over to the table in the room and placed the sack full of goodies onto it. His mind traveling back to when he was younger. How he'd purposefully stay up at night to sneak into her hut, so they could hang out and play; maybe tell a ghost story or two. He looked back over at her sleeping and was hit with a sudden influx of remorse.

He really hadn't bothered with her much, had he? Once he came of age; it was training this, Nicole that, education now. His life changed so drastically, and he didn't even realize he hadn't been in Annie's room for quite some time. He was full of nostalgia for the times they had together; how he'd sleep on the rug on her floor during the summer months, or scare her with stories in the dead of night.

He shook his head and turned away from Annie and the table. He realized now that he missed those days, and felt really terrible for having forgotten them, even if briefly. He walked to the door and took one last look at the cute sleeping rabbit.

"I'm sorry Ann..." He whispered to her.

With that, he turned and walked out the door and shut it gently behind him. Annie lied there peacefully in her slumber unaware that he had ever visited.

The rain poured down on Sonia as she followed Bunnie to the edge of Knothole just before the area where the forest became dense. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but she trusted that this was important. Bunnie stopped by the trees in the clearing and turned to face Sonia.

"Alright sugah, I was savin this here for once you got some trainin under your belt." She reached her hand into the bag and pulled out what appeared to be a bright golden ring. It radiated power and shined brightly through the heavy rain.

Sonia stared in disbelief, as she had not seen one of those for a very long time. She recognized it from when her mother and father were around, but even then, it was an incredibly long time ago. At the time she had only recently learned to run, and her father took her to the place where the rings appeared.

"I… I know that, but I can't remember what it is called. I know my father used them before." Sonia said to Bunnie loud enough so that she could be heard over the weather.

"I don't rightly know if you can even use it, but I was figurin' that nows as good a time as any to figure it out." Bunnie held out the ring grasped in her metallic hand, and let it sit before Sonia's face.

"I dunno…" Sonia showed reservation and stared at the ring held before her. It was something powerful, and it was apparent she felt as if it was too much for her all of the sudden; mostly because she revered her dad so much.

"C'mon sugah, Y'all gotta do this. We need to know if it has the same effect on you, as ol' sugar hog." She moved the ring closer. Attempting to make Sonia take it. She knew that for once they couldn't be scared or unsure, and if the ring had the same effect on her as it did Sonic, then it would be quite an advantage for them.

Sonia blinked, as she now understood this wasn't a choice. She needed to do it; she needed to be her father finally. Sonia had always wanted this, and despite her young age, she felt confident in her ability to do it. There was no time for fear or doubt; she earned this, she deserved this.

Her hand reached out and grabbed the ring. All at once, everything started to shine, and she could feel the immense power coursing through her body. It tingled and made her feel as if she were invulnerable. Bunnie jumped back at the sudden flash, as the energy was transferred from the ring to the young girl's body.

"Such power!" Sonia said. Looking down at her wet hands, as a golden aura outlined her person. She looked at Bunnie and then straight ahead. She had to do something with this intense surge of energy. Within a second she had blasted off from her spot with such force that it sent Bunnie toppling to the ground.

"Oof." Bunnie fell. She looked, but Sonia was moving so fast that her eyes couldn't locate her. "Mah stars." She said, as she pulled herself up from the ground and rubbed her bottom. "That girl's gotta fire ragin inside her." She said. Impressed by the power she displayed.

The energy that was coursing through Sonia was so intense. Her sight, her hearing, her speed. It had all increased tenfold, and she was already far away from Knothole within seconds. She moved without fear of collision or falling. Trees were blown over in her wake, and nothing could stop her. This was it the pinnacle of power. She knew that no matter what Robotnik threw at her she would conquer it effortlessly.

She ran and kept running until the effects of the ring had worn off. She stopped with a skidding halt feeling the power surge finally leave her. She turned her gaze back to see a path she'd cleared from her powerful sprint.

"That was increasable." She said to herself. She felt drained and tired from the run, and even though the ring granted her a powerful surge of energy. It did not make her immune to the effects of fatigue. The power was so high, and she was so inexperienced, that she was not accustomed to the crashing impact of the power ring.

"Oh man!" Sonia said. Feeling a touch bad about having knocked Bunnie to the ground. It was not like she meant to do it, but she was overcome by the power the ring had granted her.

She moved her wet hair from her eyes and looked back into the direction of Knothole. She had to get back and apologize to Bunnie for what had happened. She started to jog again at a tired pace; following the destructive path her running had carved out in the forest.

"Man, I have to be more careful with that thing." She noted to herself. After all, what good was saving the forest if she destroyed it herself?

When she returned, she could see Bunnie was standing under a tree for waiting for Sonia. Sonia stopped with a slide and hung her head a little bit. "I'm sorry Bunnie, I just..."

"Aww Sugah, don' you worry none. I shoulda been expectin you to lose control. You have never touched a power ring before." Bunnie patted her on the head, and it was clear she was feeling excited about the fact Sonia was able to use the power rings like Sonic was.

"So now whata we do?" Sonia asked curiously.

"Hun, you'll be takin it easy until tomorrow, we need everyone rested for the mission. I'll be headin back towards the lake of rings to be getting ya another one of them before we're to be settin out." Bunnie put her arm around her proudly.

"We even gota backpack that Y'all can use like ol' sugar hog." She started to walk with Sonia to her hut.

Sonia smiled genuinely brightly, as optimism was high between the two of them. She felt like tomorrow would go on without a hitch, and even if something did go wrong, she knew she had that beautiful ring to fall back on.

"I know its early, but Y'all make sure you get well rested for tomorrow," Bunnie said upon reaching the door of Sonia's hut.

"Anything you say, Bunnie," Sonia responded confidently. She opened her door and turned to wave Bunnie off; then shut her door behind her. She had already eaten a huge lunch, and just seeing her snuggly warm bed made her realize how tired she actually was.

"A hot shower and a long rest. That sounds like the best idea ever" Sonia said excitedly to herself. Maybe she was getting old before her time, but being excited about a long sleep and a warm soak made her feel that way.

Many hours had passed and the twilight hours were setting in. The room was dark and covered in shadows, and the only light source came from one bright monitor illuminating the area in front of it. A laser pistol sat beside the console and was barely visible against the dark backdrop. Snively reached out and picked the gun up and nestled it safely into his green uniform pocket. It would be easy to grab with one hand, and quite effective at assassination if one were to be caught unawares.

The sound of beeping began in its usual fashion, and Snively's eyes traveled to the blinking light on the keyboard. His finger reached out and pressed the button calmly, as static could be heard at first, but then it gave way to silence.

"Yes, sir?" Snively said in an unusual tone. He was not whimpering or stammering as was typical for him. He just felt numb on the inside, and he was determined to put an end to this once and for all.

"Snively… Why is it you are wasting my time?! Get up here NOW!" Robotnik's voice came blaring over the intercom.

"I'm sorry sir. I was just… getting some things prepared before coming up to see you, milord." He said.

"I don't care what you are doing! Just get up here to see me this instant!" Robotnik demanded angrily. He hated anything Snively did, and any second Snively wasted.

"I am coming up right now sir," Snively said directly once more and disconnected the conversation before any more berating could go on.

Snively walked out into the hallway and locked his little hideaway up. He walked towards the elevator and proceeded to get in when it arrived. He put his hand in the opening of his jacket and felt for the handle of the pistol. It was an easy reach; he could quickly pull it and be done in seconds. He let out a sigh, as he watched the floors fly by; sending him upwards to his destiny.

**DING!**

The doors opened revealing the hallway on the top floor. Snively stepped out and could see the giant door that led to Robotnik's throne. A place that was synonymous with blood and death; how he hated this room so much, yet how fitting was it that blood and death was his purpose for visiting this day. He was sweating profusely when he opened the doors and saw Robotnik sitting there with a look of displeasure on his face.

"Y-you wanted to see me, sire." Snively's mannerisms and fear began overpowering him once he was face to face with his uncle.

"Snively, ORACLE and I have been having a little chat..." Robotnik began speaking.

Snively's mind instantly panicked and began thinking about how that blasted A.I. had set him up. It tricked him, and now Robotnik was going to execute him. How could he be so foolish even to entertain such a thought? His mind blocked everything out, and he wondered if he should pull the gun and try to shoot Robotnik for sheer survival sake.

"SNIVELY!" Robotnik's voice boomed so loudly that it broke his panic.

Snively's eyes traveled to Robotnik's face, and sweat poured off his brow.

"Snively… are you… ignoring me?" Robotnik asked him looking mighty displeased.

"O-O-Oh no sir. I-I-w-was just thinking about how to g-get the hedgehog girl!" Snively stammered in full panic mode.

"Shut up Snively! Pay attention! Because if I think you aren't listening to me one more time. I will make sure to make you regret it." Robotnik was still as threatening as ever, and even though Snively now realized Robotnik had no clue about his concealed weapon. He found it difficult to even think about completing the task he set out to do.

"Y-yes sir," Snively said in a defeated tone.

Robotnik turned his metallic throne around and away from Snively to project a giant map of the area. "As I was saying, Snively. ORACLE and I were discussing the chances of Freedom Fighter meddling, and she predicts that anytime within the next couple of days they should make a move on the energy cannon." He started to zoom in on the map to show Snively better what they were planning.

Snively was not even listening. He was standing behind Robotnik and staring at his giant balled head. How blissfully unaware Robotnik was right now. Snively was shaking and drenched in sweat. The moment was so tense that all he could do is mindlessly drone. "Yes, sir." While nodding his head; Robotnik looked back briefly and saw Snively nodding and staring in his direction.

The world had gone mute for Snively, and he could only hear the sound of his rapidly beating heart. Robotnik turned away from Snively while starting to point to places on the map, and Snively couldn't be bothered with any of it. His shaking hand reached into his pocket, and he could feel the steel handle on his clammy wet hand. Robotnik kept talking and going through plans. It was clear that it was a detailed set of valuable plants, but Snively didn't care.

Robotnik's head was so shiny against the light of the massive screen. Snively pulled, and the gun came out of his pocket slowly, quietly. His heartbeat getting ever more rapid, and the gun raising gradually. Robotnik now had his eyes shut, and was laughing quite hard. No doubt in hysterics for some act of cruelty he was planning.

Snively's aim was shaky, and his arms were like rubber. He could feel the trigger bend inward slightly, and he tried to make sure he would hit him directly in the head.

 _"I…I…_ "

Snively's mind attempted to stay calm, but all he could feel was the terror. Every second that passed was like the frame of a slowly moving picture. Robotnik was stopping his laughter, and Snively knew he would turn to look his way.

He breathed in low and lowered the gun; sliding it back into his pocket with relative ease.

" _I can't do it… I'm too scared._ "

Snively felt disgusted with himself. Not only that he was weak, but this was his opportunity to end his own suffering.

"Snively?" The sound of Robotnik's voice rang into his ears, and he looked directly into those soulless red glowing eyes.

"S-Sir, I was just f-fixing my c-coat. It's h-hot in here." He said. Pulling on it like he was adjusting it, and removing his hand from inside of it.

Robotnik kept his gaze on him, and he looked thoroughly displeased.

"I-I will be going over the plans the rest of the night sire. T-to make sure nothing isn't forgotten.' Snively stammered.

Robotnik turned his entire throne around and kept his angry gaze fixated onto Snively.

"You'd better Snively. Because if something goes wrong. I will personally make sure you die slowly and miserably. Is that understood?" Robotnik's voice was low, but it was exuding rage and violent intent.

"Y-yes, sir. I-I-I will start on it right away." Snively said in a cowardly fashion; moving grovelingly out the door of Robotnik's throne room. He hurried down the hall and away from the tyrant.

He began hyperventilating and held his chest with his clenched fingers. He was a coward through and through, but this event showed him there was only one course of action he could take now. He stepped inside of the elevator upon its arrival and wiped the sweat from his face.

"I won't let it end like this." He said to himself angrily. The doors shut and began to carry him back to his sealed hideaway.

Time passed, and the twilight hours had turned to early morning. Max walked together with Rotor through the violent rain. It was time for the mission, and Max couldn't believe how quick it had come. "It's dawn already, and I couldn't get an ounce of sleep." He admitted while keeping up the pace with Rotor; who was carrying a giant tote bag containing the explosive device and tools.

Rotor put a hand on Max's shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry about that man; I remember the first time I was old enough to do a serious mission like this. I think I wet my pants."

Max shot him a smile and a short laugh. "Somehow I think you are exaggerating."

"Ah, and what of it? The point is once this is over we can all rest peacefully for a while, and hey, maybe get some sunshine again." Rotor said as he stretched while walking. He had had enough of the bad weather already.

Max felt sure he could do this, but couldn't help but find his confidence wavering a little bit. He looked straight ahead and gazed through the darkness, and could see the rest of the group waiting together by the edge of the furthest hut.

"Well, it looks like this is it," Max said as he reached everybody while Rotor nodded in agreement.

Sonia was standing there, and she looked really well rested for what was to come. She had a brown backpack slung over her shoulder and was settled between Bunnie and Annie.

"Still slow bro, but hey! You don't have to worry bout' nothin. Because I got my secret weapon ready to go." Her voice was just as strong as her posture, and he wondered how she could be so calm.

"Secret weapon?" He asked. Not really amused.

"Ohhh, you'll find out bro, just wait! I'll save the day for sure!" She was apparently excited now, and it elicited a chuckle from Bunnie.

"Alright, now Y'all settle down. It's time to start movin' out." Bunnie said sternly, as Annie looked at Max and Sonia.

"What about Tails?' Annie questioned; she not aware if the pans had drastically changed or not.

"Ah, shoot! I thought somebody told ya, but since Tails ain't responded, we've decided to have Max take his place." Bunnie said while feeling a little bad. However, with everybody being preoccupied because of the mission, she forgot to tell her personally.

Annie looked hurt at first for being left out, and then she let out a sigh. She realized she had nobody to blame but herself. If she hadn't been avoiding Max and acting like an idiot, she would have known already. She just nodded dismissively; which surprised Max, Bunnie, and Sonia. They all expected some protest out of her, but none came.

"Let's get on with it then, the sooner we get a move on the sooner we can get this over with," Annie said while adjusting her supply satchel.

"Alright, then Y'all. We'll split off into our two groups, and head to the power facilities located east and north in the city. Once we've accomplished the mission, we'll all rondezvous back at the power ring pool." Bunnie clarified the meeting place and the general plan.

"Oui, we are to be handling ze more fortified power facility, since it is to be being built by Robotnik himself. It is to be your job to handle ze power plant that was built by Mobians before ze coup." Antoine added, and Max nodded.

"You can count on us," Max said, as he turned to Annie and Sonia. They raised their hands to him to show they were prepared to go.

Annie walked past Max and over to her mother and father. She gave them each a tight hug before they were to split off.

"Be careful you two," Annie said, as she attempted to display as much care as she was capable of.

"Oui, I am to be believing that we should be saying that to you." Antoine gave her a hug and then a kiss on the cheek which for once she didn't protest.

Bunnie moved in and gave her daughter a crushing hug that caught her off guard.

"Ya better be careful now, ya hear! Don' make me have to come draggin ya home by yer ears for takin unnecessary risks." Bunnie released Annie which allowed her to breathe better.

"Jeez mom, I promise I won't take any unnecessary risks." She took a deep breath and turned to see Max and Sonia standing next to one another.

"Ready to go?" Max asked shyly to her. She nodded her head slightly and walked next to them so they could get a move on.

Rotor, Bunnie, and Antoine bid their farewells, and Max, Annie, and Sonia were left walking towards the city on their own. Max had Nicole out as a direct map to the facility they needed to assault.

Annie remained quiet for some time thinking about the food Max had brought her the other day, and how tasty it had been. She wanted to thank him for it but still found it to be quite hard to speak. In her mind, she was yelling at herself, but her emotional reaction was always that of unreasonable fear.

Sonia marched confidently ahead of the other two. She really felt like running there by herself and dealing with the SWATBOTS early. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the amount of flack she would receive for it.

"Ann?" Annie heard her name softly spoken over the falling rain. It seized her heart and made butterflies attack her stomach. She winced slightly and turned to face Max; whose hair was a soggy mess, but his expression was that of warmth and kindness.

"Yes?" She answered back feeling afraid and ashamed. She could barely keep her head level with his to look at his face.

There was a short silence where all that could be heard was the sound of the storm. She wasn't facing him, and she knew without looking he was staring at her. It all made her extremely uncomfortable, and her mind was more on what he was about to say than that of any dangerous mission.

"How was the food?" She heard him say over the sound of pounding rain.

She immediately looked up and stared him in the face. He had a big bright stupid grin on his face. After everything that had happened, and the way she had acted. This was what he had to say to her. She shook her head and was fighting the urge to smile even just a little bit.

"I-It was good. I was famished…" She said awkwardly.

"Of course, I am the best cook in Knothole after all." He laughed in a lighthearted manner.

None of it. Max was ignoring it all. She could feel extensive relief washing over herself. She expected apologies, begging, misery, yelling, anger, bitterness, but what she got was, Max.

"Yeahlikehell." She muttered under her breath.

"What was that Ann? Have something to say about my cooking?" He asked. Seeing her mouth move, but unable to hear her over the ambient sounds.

Annie gave him a small smile, and he returned it. She was feeling better than she had in days, and it was thanks to what Max didn't do as opposed to what he did. She felt foolish for having been so afraid of him, but like most things; she had to deal with "Annie" before she could even begin to deal with Max.

Over the next 20 minutes, the three marched in tandem with one another, and it wouldn't be long now until they reached the city. Sonia was still leading the charge to Robotropolis, and Max and Annie quietly walked alongside one another. They hadn't spoken in that time, but the atmosphere between them went from that of awkward sadness to quiet relief.

"How much longer until we reach the facility, Nicole?" Max broke his silence to speak to the computer.

"Approximately 15 minutes Max." She responded.

Max nodded while keeping his pace up with Annie. It wouldn't be too much longer now for the Freedom Fighters. The days of project FIRESTORM were soon coming to an end.

Across the city of Robotropolis. Bunnie, Antoine, and Rotor had already made their way to the northern power facility and were beginning their assault. They were all quite quick and efficient when on missions, and the fact they knew the layout of the city helped them get a massive head start over the other group.

"Y'all think they're ok?" Bunnie whispered to Antoine. She was standing in front of the giant metal door of the power facility. Rotor was bent over in front of it sifting through the tote bag he'd brought.

"Oui, but of course, and since we are to be most likely being here first. We will attract attention away from them by ze time they get here." Antoine whispered back while he stood by the edge of the building; looking through the thick smog for SWATBOT patrols.

Bunnie nodded feeling somewhat embarrassed; she felt like she was worrying too much. They had this planned out very well, and with uncle Chuck having thrown off ORACLE's trail. The place didn't seem as well guarded as it might have otherwise.

She watched as Rotor began dousing the bottom half of the metal door with a green liquid. It immediately started to bubble and sizzle when it came in contact with the metal. Within a matter of minutes, it caused the lower half of the door to become more brittle and frail.

"Alright Bunnie, it's time to make some noise," Rotor whispered to her, and she gave a nod.

Antoine kept lookout while Bunnie moved over to the door and wound up her roboticized limb. With one solid punch. The bottom of the corroded door smashed into pieces. There was a loud smashing sound that echoed through the fog, and it caused Antoine to jump slightly.

"Eep!" He cried suddenly and turned his gaze over to the two of them for a brief second.

"We are to be moving on in from here now, yes?" He asked as he turned to peek back around the corner once more. He was sure the slam had to attract somebody within the area.

"Yes, let's go" Rotor piped up while lifting the heavy bag containing the explosive.

The three of them crawled under the top remaining half of the door and into the dark empty hallways of the power facility. It was hot inside and covered in that same white mist as outside.

"Robotnik is overworking this thing." Rotor commented as he realized how dangerous it was to even be in here while it was in this state. For all, he knew it could blow any second from rampant overuse.

Bunnie's eyes scanned the area, but there was nothing but an empty room filled with mist. The power facility was making very unnaturally loud noises, and everything about this made her feel uneasy.

"I dunno' this here's a bit weird for me. Ain't a SWATBOT in sight, not even a workerbot." Bunnie's observation hadn't gone unnoticed by anybody else, and like any rational animal, they had to wonder what was going on.

Rotor walked forward and looked down the intersecting hallways labeled by letters. "I think if we go down the C corridor we will find ourselves heading for the center of the building. That is the perfect place to set the explosive, as it will most likely bring down the surrounding structure." He looked back at Bunnie and Antoine, and they both nodded in agreement to his assessment.

"Let us to be moving on, ze sooner we destroy this thing ze better it will be," Antoine said as he pointed his sword down the hallway and took point. Bunnie took it upon herself to take up the rear, to make sure they wouldn't be surprised by anything.

The three marched through ghostly smog and intense heat. The building was like that of one from a horror story, yet no life but the three of them could be detected. They moved onwards for a minute or two until they reached a computer room.

"I think this is as good a spot as any to set this thing." Rotor said dropping the bag. "I just need a few minutes to set it up." He reached into the bag and pulled out a large black device with an LCD screen attached to it.

Antoine allowed Rotor to get to work and moved into the hallway to keep watch on the way they entered. Bunnie walked over to Rotor and gave him a pat on the back.

"Great job sugah, are Y'all sure this will be powerful enough to destroy this place." She moved one of her floppy ears out of her vision as she talked.

"I know LCD's are seen as older technology, but it is what's inside the bomb that counts. I used whatever I could to make this thing. It should be enough to eradicate the city block." He answered while he was tinkering on the LCD.

"The entire block? Ain't that a bit much Rote?" Bunnie said. She was just as concerned about getting away as she was about destroying this place.

"Ah yeah, well I was concerned about not doing a good enough job on this place, but it doesn't matter. I can set the timer for whatever I want, so we can set extra time if we need it." He started pushing buttons on the display, as they made echoed beeps through the quiet room.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

The sound of beeping emanated from a flashing button. A giant metal hand reached forward and pushed it with force. "ORACLE. What is it you have to report?" Robotnik said into the receiver. Everything was dull and quiet, and he was surprised to even hear a word from his precious A.I.

"Your majesty, it has come to my attention that there is Freedom Fighter activity in the northern power facility. My surveillance of the area suggests an aggressive play against the cannon's power source." The A.I. said.

Robotnik had a look of pure rage on his face, and his hand came down with fury; smashing into the side of his metallic throne. "We… discussed this last night ORACLE. There was supposed to be extra SWATBOT security patrolling ALL areas! WHAT HAPPENED!" He yelled, as his blood boiled.

"Forgive me, your Excellency. I made plans to tighten security, but it was Snively's job to allocate the SWATBOTS to their designated positions. I checked and discovered that not only did he not place SWATBOTS in both of the critical power facilities, but he failed to call back any of the experimental SWATBOT MK-2 units, as you ordered." ORACLE explained.

"Snively…." Robotnik's eyes glowed red as the fires of hell. His hand balled into a fist, and for a moment not even ORACLE dare to speak.

"ORACLE... Has the eastern power facility been attacked yet?" Robotnik's voice was oscillating between enraged, and trying to keep calm.

"Nothing has been detected as of yet, but I predict the Freedom Fighters are attempting to eradicate the power sources of the cannon and not the cannon itself, as I previously believed." She gave her assessment.

Robotnik leaned back and thought for a second before giving his command. "I want all visual surveillance turned over to me, so that I may personally oversee everything. I want all available SWATBOTS to be moved to both power facilities at once. Kill any and all Freedom Fighters except the hedgehog girl. She is the only thing I want alive." He put his hands at his sides.

"Acknowledged," ORACLE said, and all the monitors in the throne room turned into various pictures of live surveillance footage. Already Robotnik could see Antoine in the outer hallway of the northern power facility. The hidden cameras installed throughout the areas gave him a sinister omnipresence over his opponents.

"ORACLE?" Robotnik said after she had completed his task for him.

"Yes, your majesty?" She asked.

"Make sure to send a batch of SWATBOTS to collect my dear nephew. I do believe he has… worn out his welcome in my beautiful home." He said while he smiled manically at the thought of the horrors he was going to inflict upon him.

With the commands issued to the SWATBOTS, and the defensive plan put into action. Robotnik had naught to do but sit and enjoy the show as it unfolded.

"Well, that about does it," Rotor said; giving the explosive device a quick glance over.

He stood up placing the now lighter bag under his arm. "Now all we need to do is decide on a time."

"How bout' fifteen minutes or so?" Bunnie suggested. "There hasn't been much resistance as of yet, and it shouldn't take that long to get a few blocks away."

Rotor nodded and started typing a time into the screen, after a few seconds the display began to move.

20:00

19:59

19:58

"It's set! Time to go!" Rotor said and started to turn towards the hallway. Bunnie followed suit, and they walked until they met up with Antoine in the middle of the long hall.

"Oui, how is it to be being going?" Antoine asked, and Rotor responded with a thumbs up.

"Time to move hun," Bunnie said aloud. She grabbed his hand and pulled him along, as the three moved at a brisk pace.

Within a minute they were outside once more and ready to escape out of the city. They still had some ways to go to avoid the blast radius, but at this point, there was plenty of time.

The three walked forward out into the street, and they were surrounded by the fog but were acutely aware of the direction they needed to head in. The rain was pounding on the cracked pavement of what was once a central road in the city.

"Do y'all hear that?' Bunnie said in a hushed whisper.

"Yeah, the rain. It is too loud." Rotor whispered back to her.

"Shh… Listen." She said once more.

The three of them stopped moving, and they all tried to listen over the sounds of the rain. It was easier for Bunnie to hear due to her big floppy ears, but the longer they waited in silence, the more distinct it became.

"Footsteps?" Antoine whispered.

"Not just footsteps, but a lot o' them," Bunnie said.

"Guys we don't have time for this. We need to get away from here quickly." Rotor whispered as loudly as possible.

The three of them could hear the steady rise of the sound of metallic footsteps. They were coming in droves. This wasn't the typical SWATBOT patrol; it sounded like an army.

"They know," Rotor said, feeling worried.

"Aww shit, let's just get on outta here, we ain't got time to blow up ourselves, and if all the SWATBOTS are after us; then that means Max and the gang are gonna have an easy time," Bunnie stated confidently.

"Oui, let us to be taking our way through ze buildings. I am to be being sure ze SWATBOTS are expecting us to use ze quickest route or possibly ze sewers." Antoine suggested.

"Great idea hun." Bunnie beamed, as she turned left to head to the dilapidated buildings that were once beautiful homes.

The three proceeded to make their way through buildings; weaving back and forth, behind, on top, and in front of them. They could hear the sound of SWATBOTS marching in the thick mist but knew there was no time to stop for anything. With only minutes left until the explosion, they had some ways ahead of themselves to go.

The three of them stopped at the edge of the block and could see the mass amount of SWATBOTS littering the streets. They had reached the end of their cover and were now not exactly sure what to do next.

"Holy hell, that's a lotta them," Bunnie said, as her eyes scanned the open street. It was clear there might even be over 100 red glowing visors.

"It doesn't matter how many of them there are. We are running out of time." Rotor said. They were positioned on the side of a house, and it was quite a sprint from here to the forest.

"We are to be needing to just go for it then. "Antoine said drawing his sword.

"Are you crazy Ant. There's no cover out there." Rotor said while shaking his head.

"Oui, but there is ze fog, and SWATBOTS are not known for their aim." He said to him.

"Ya, I'm agreein that Antoine is right, if we stay round' here we die; if we move, we might live. It's an obvious choice if Y'all ask me." Bunnie interjected into the conversation, and it caused Rotor to go quiet.

The three of them crouched low to the side of the SWATBOT horde, and their red visors were mindlessly staring in front of themselves. They had not even noticed the three intruders as of yet. Bunnie, Antoine, and Rotor started to crawl across the mud of the destroyed yard and into the cracked street.

Antoine was in the lead and was making sure not to let the sword he was holding make any noise. Second, was Rotor who had his tote bag resting on his back. He was already a bigger target, so it didn't matter much if he added more to it. Third was Bunnie who was looking over at the SWATBOTS that were visible in the distance beside them.

Antoine was now on the street and Rotor was coming just up behind him. Bunnie, on the other hand, was lagging behind just before the road. She was finding it difficult to move without making too much noise and didn't think crawling on cement was wise. However, what alternative was there for her?

She could see Rotor and Antoine now stopped in the street waiting for her. She looked down and placed herself on the cracked cement.

Scrape!

Her robotic limbs made noise when she dragged them. She tried to stop, but it was already garnering the attention of the marching legion.

Bunnie waved her furred hand at Antoine and Rotor; signaling them to move on without her. Antoine shook his head in refusal, as she expected he would. Rotor just waved his hand back telling her to forget it and come on.

Scrape!

Scrape!

Bunnie moved nervously, and just as expected the red lights turned towards the source of the sound. She moved more, and at this point, she could tell the jig was up.

Scrape!

Scrape!

"INTRUDERS DETECTED."

All of the SWATBOTS in the immediate area turned their attention to the three lying on the ground. Rotor knew they just had to move, as he stood up onto his feet and was about to make a run for it.

"FREEDOM FIGHTER DETECTED."

"EXTERMINATE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS."

The drones came as soon as they spotting him. They raised their lasers towards him, and Rotor hit the ground with a thud. The barrage of laser fire whizzed over his back.

"Shit!" Rotor yelled. They were in the middle of the street with no cover, and SWATBOTS were closing in on them.

Antoine crawled back to try and help Rotor, but there wasn't much he could do. He couldn't stand, and lying low in the fog was the only thing keeping them from dying immediately to the spread of lasers.

Bunnie watched helplessly as she lied flat on the cement. She could barely see Antoine or Rotor through the chaos but knew they were in trouble. Rotor started to unzip his bag as he had some explosives and other tools that could help with this, but probably not enough to destroy all of the SWATBOTS.

He pulled out a shiny silver and black sphere and pushed a button on it; as soon as he did that it started a little countdown from 5 seconds. He got to his knees for a second and tossed it in the direction of the threat. The SWATBOT army once again unloaded a hail of laser fire on him. He ducked as they whizzed by him once more, and a second later a massive explosion took place destroying an enormous chuck on the approaching SWATBOTS.

Antoine stood up, and so did Rotor. "Now's our chance!" Rotor called to Bunnie. Bunnie stood up and started to sprint towards them.

The explosion drew the attention of every SWATBOT in the sector. Now more SWATBOTS were appearing in droves from the other end of the street. Laser fire started flying passed Rotor's head, and he was scared out of his mind.

Antoine started to make a run for it, but there was just too much laser fire raining down on them. One laser passed right through his right shoulder; barely missing his neck. He gripped onto it with a cry of pain and dropped his sword. Another laser came and flew through his left calf, and he fell to his knees.

« Sacrebleu ! Ça m'a fait mal ! » He screamed in his native tongue, as he hit the ground chest first. He was in agony and bleeding out rather badly.

Rotor immediately went prone and started to crawl to him. Once he was there, he tried to apply pressure to his leg.

"Oh man!" Rotor was frozen with fear and knew that they were trapped.

Bunnie saw the horror that had just befallen her beloved, and once the shock wore off, she became extremely enraged. She ran faster than before through the laser fire so that she could assist Antoine and Rotor. The laser fire passed by her, and some of it even hit her metallic limbs, but thankfully they just bounced off of her. Once she reached Antoine, she ducked down as low as possible.

"Hun! You doin' ok!" She yelled. He just gave her a small wave to try and keep her from worrying, but it was clear he was not, and that he wouldn't be walking.

"Whata we do Bunnie!?" Rotor said, as he pulled another explosive from his bag and threw it. Time was running out for them, and they were stranded. It was obvious neither of them wanted to leave Antoine, but if they wanted to live themselves, they had to.

"Oh... just to be leaving… I don- don't want you to die… mon amour…" Antoine said while wincing in pain.

Bunnie looked at him lying there, and her heart was breaking. She could see the blood and the look on his face. It was all happening so fast, and it was too much. Her eyes stared into his, and then she started looking past him to the spot on the ground he was lying.

"….."

She used her metal arm to pull Antoine towards her, and he cried out in pain from the sudden jolt. Rotor looked at the ground and could see what caught her attention. He pulled out his last two explosives and started to throw them.

"Do it now!" Rotor shouted.

Bunnie used her metal arm and started to dig into the cracked cement. She began to lift with all her strength and pulled up a giant metal cover in the center of the road. The large round sewer cover was hoisted up like a shield; blocking the shots that were coming towards them.

Bunnie and Rotor huddled behind it, and Antoine lie next to the giant hole leading to the sewers. "Let's go!" Rotor yelled as he started to grab Antoine and pull him into the sewer.

Antoine used his good hand and his good leg to hold himself on the ladder, and Rotor grabbed onto him so that he wouldn't fall. Bunnie held the utility cover and waited for the two to disappear from sight. She could hear the SWATBOTS droning loudly now, as they moved in for the kill.

"EXTERMINATE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS."

"EXTERMINATE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS."

Bunnie slid herself onto the ladder not caring about the SWATBOTS, and slowly lowered herself into the sewers. She eventually got low enough that the utility cover slipped back into place and surrounded her in complete darkness. She descended the ladder and was surprised when a flash of light came on. Rotor had turned on a flashlight that he retrieved from his bag, and it revealed to them the grime and disgust of the sewer. Antoine was propping himself up against the wall bleeding, but there was no time to tend to him.

"We need to move NOW! I don't know where we are, or where we need to go, but I just know we need to move in this direction." Rotor said as he pointed in the direction away from the power facility.

Bunnie walked over to Antoine and effortlessly took him into her arms. She could easily support his weight with her metallic limb.

"D-don't worry about moi… ju-just get us to ze safest place..." He said. He was bleeding pretty badly, but the wounds were not fatal if they were treated and bandaged in time.

The three of them could hear the banging of the SWATBOTS above, and without hesitation, the three ran off into the dark unknown of the sewers. Rotor leading the way, and Bunnie carrying Antoine.

The rain poured down into the city with fury, and the rumbling sound of thunder could be heard echoing through the fog. Flashes of lightning lit up the dark grey skies; though they were barely visible through the polluted air. Max, Sonia, and Annie had reached the old desolate power facility. It looked as though nobody was here, and the doors were sealed tightly.

"This is the place..." Max trailed off, as he saw the scope and size of the building.

"So, what do we do?" Annie asked. She was unsure of how to enter or what specifically she should do.

Sonia moved in next to the two of them and crossed her arms. "This is lame, where are all of the SWATBOTS?" She expected some excitement and action, but this seemed somewhat dull.

"I don't know Sonia, but I think it best we keep our guard up," Max said, as he looked over the place for another way to enter the building.

Annie took a look around and could barely see anything that was beyond a medium distance from her. "I am not seeing anything." She said to Max.

Max looked at Nicole and decided to let her do all the work. "Nicole, can you find me an entrance?" He asked nicely.

Thunder crackled through the sky once more, and Nicole started to scan the area to the best of her capabilities. "According to the floor plans of the facility. There should be a low hanging ventilation shaft that could provide easy access to the facility. From there I can lead us to the central control room." She displayed the map of the facility to Max.

"There!" Annie called. She pointed upwards to a crawl vent with a flimsy covering. It was some feet off the ground and would require assistance to reach.

"Great Ann, Nicole. Now all I need to do is get in there." Max said. Sonia looked up at the vent, and then at her brother.

"You sure you can make it bro? That's fairly high." She said contemplating what to do next.

"All I need is a boost from Ann, and it shouldn't be too much of a problem." He looked over at her, and she gave him a nod.

"No problem." She said confidently. She knew she was strong enough to do it.

"Nicole, scan for hostile activity," Max said to the computer. He found it weird there had been no resistance so far.

"Scanning Max…" The computer's screen started displaying a bar of the scan progress.

"No hostile activity inside or outside of the immediate area. No SWATBOTS detected." She said to him.

Max nodded. He found it strange that there were no SWATBOTS, but maybe the plan with uncle Chuck just so happen to work that well.

Max looked at Sonia and Annie and started to speak. "Ok, this is the plan. Nicole and I are heading in so that we can overload the reactor inside of the building. I need you guys to stand watch out here and make sure that if SWATBOTS come by, they do not enter the facility. It is cramped inside of there, and I don't want to get caught in a predicament where I am running for my life and fending off SWATBOTS."

Annie merely nodded and moved under the ventilation shaft. Sonia smiled at her brother and gave him a quick hug.

"Bro, you can count on me." She was sure that if any SWATBOTS came by she would make quick work of them.

Max rustled her hair and smiled at her. "If it gets too dangerous. Make sure you two get out, ya' hear." He walked over to Annie, and Sonia frowned slightly. "C'mon bro!" She said as she tried to straighten her wet hair.

"That's planning for failure Max," Annie said to him, as she got on the ground, and he started to stand himself onto her shoulders.

"More like being cautious." He called back. She stood up on shaky legs and held onto his boots.

"D-damn you're heavy." She said.

Annie gritted her teeth, and she backed up against the wall for support. Max placed Nicole into his pocket and drew his sword. Using the pointed edge; he slid it under the vent cover and began to rock it back and forth. It made bending and twisting metal sounds, and after a few rough yanks the vent cover came off and hit the mud with a slap.

Sonia excitedly watched the surroundings, and even though she couldn't see much. She felt great being an active part of the team.

"Could you hurry your ass up," Annie said; struggling to keep his entire weight up. She was pretty strong, but Max with the sword and all of the stuff he was carrying were making her struggle.

Max sheathed his sword and pulled himself upwards into the cramped vent. Once he was lifted off of Annie, she moved away from the wall and looked up at the open vent.

"Max!?" She called over the rain and thunder. She could see his head pop out of the opening and he waved to her.

"Everything is good! You guys wait here! I'll be out soon!" He called equally as loud to her so that she could hear. She gave him a wave of approval, and he disappeared once more into the opening.

"Be careful Max." She whispered to herself. She wished she'd dared to say it to his face, but she knew now was not the time or the place to dwell on such things.

Max crawled through the dusty and dirty vent. He stopped about halfway into the shaft and pulled Nicole from his pocket.

"Which way Nicole?" Max asked quietly.

Nicole illuminated the unclean grimy vent and displayed the map of the building. It even provided the fastest route to the control room.

"Thanks, Nicole." He said while crawling forward. He kept her in his hand while he used the other one to pull himself ahead in the cramped space. He followed her instructions for about several minutes until he reached a bottom vent cover. The instructions suggested he drop down here, so he used his thick boot to kick out the vent cover.

He looked down through the space and could see an empty hallway. It was hot and covered in the same mist as outside. He saw nothing and decided that Nicole was correct. There was no hostile threat present. He turned himself around; placing his boots through the vent hole and jumped onto the floor below. His boots made a loud clacking sound as they hit the smooth steel floor.

His eyes scanned the area, and then he looked back up at the way he just came. It finally dawned on him that he wouldn't be able to return the way he came.

"Damnit. I should have thought this through better." He berated himself out loud, and Nicole could infer from the context what he was upset about.

"Do not worry. Once I have access to the control room I can freely unlock any door I wish. It would have been unwise to try to travel through the vents upon escape anyway, as it is not the fastest route." She reassured him.

He sighed with relief. Nicole did have a point; trying to escape a power facility meltdown by crawling through a narrow vent didn't sound like a smart plan.

"Which way to the control room Nicole?" Max asked.

"She displayed her map once more and started to direct him where to go. "Head up through this hallway, and make a left. After that, you will need to descend a few flights of steps. Once you have done that you will be at the central control room door."

Max immediately started following her instructions coupled with the map. The further into the place he got the creepier it began to feel to him. It was old, abandoned, and had an insidious feel to it. It was almost like there was more to this place than its function let on, but he felt like it could just be his isolated state in the building. He moved through the darkened hallways and descended the shadowy steps. A red bulb on the wall his only source of light aside from Nicole.

The place was so barren that all he could hear was the humming of the reactor working overtime and the echoes of his own bootsteps. Finally, after so much walking he found himself in front of the central control room door. He reached out his hand and attempted to open it, but it appeared to be locked. He could see through the small transparent eye slot on the door, and inside were various consoles and computer monitors. There was a large console in the center back of the of the room, and tables covered in parts, connectors, wires, and oil.

"This doesn't look like any sort power control room. It looks like some kind of nightmarish lab?" Max said his thoughts aloud to Nicole.

"It is likely Robotnik repurposed this building many times since the days of the coup. I assume that it had another function before Robotnik decided to re-use it for its intended purpose." She told him what she thought.

"How do we get in?" Max asked. "Should I try to hack through?"

"Negative, the door and walls are reinforced with super strong materials. It would take an immense amount of energy to penetrate it. My laser doesn't even come close to that, and your sword would be useless against it." She told him.

"However, if you connect me to that dial panel. I can undoubtedly bypass the lock code and grant us access." She continued.

Max moved closer to the door and pulled a cord from a hidden compartment on the side of her computer body. He connected it directly to a port that was part of the lock mechanism. The port was used for maintenance or to change the password for security, at least that's what it was used for before the coup.

It took seconds for the glow on the pad to go from red to green. The door to shoot open and Max quickly disconnected her from the port. He walked inside staring at all of the machines and parts. He was not exactly sure where he was supposed to connect Nicole.

"Where to Nicole?" Max asked her for guidance.

Nicole scanned the room, and her screen zeroed in on a console furthest in the back of the room. "That console controls all functions of the power facility itself. Once you connect me, I will have full access within minutes." She explained to him.

He nodded to that and moved over to the wall and started hooking Nicole directly into the console.

"Let's hope this works," Max stated while he waited for Nicole to do her thing.

Annie was quietly standing outside when the thunderous sound of an explosion began to echo through the entire city. Her head turned in the direction of the sound, and she could see a bright orange fire lighting up through the mist. It was such a strong explosion that it shook the earth beneath her. She quickly grabbed onto one of the empty steel containers settled in front of the facility and used it to help her maintain her balance. Sonia emulated her and grabbed on as well so that she too did not fall.

"Holy… They did it." Sonia said. She was in complete awe at what a massive display that was, and she couldn't even see it entirely through the fog.

"Yeah…" Annie said feeling somewhat scared about the explosion. She couldn't help but wonder if her parents were both ok. She trusted them, but it still caused her to worry for their safety.

Sonia looked at her and then back into the direction of the explosion. The orange glows of spreading fire illuminated the smoggy landscape. It was so fierce and contagious she wasn't even sure if the heavy rainfall could put it out.

Annie let out a frustrated sigh. "Goddamn, what is taking Max so long." She moved about beginning a nervous pace.

"My bro is…" Sonia stopped talking abruptly, as her gaze moved past the outer fence. She could see the faint shimmering of red dots in the distance.

"Max is what?" Annie said. Not fully understanding what Sonia was talking about. She noticed Sonia's stare and then started to gaze in the same direction as her. She too could now see the bright, barely visible red dots littering the fog in the distance. As time passed, it became readily evident to her that they were getting bigger.

"What is this?" Annie said. She already assumed it was SWATBOTS, but there was so many of them. Way too many to be a simple patrol.

Sonia had the first look of fear since the mission began. She expected SWATBOTS, she wanted them, but even she knew that the number of red dots appearing was beyond reason. Was it 80, 100? She couldn't tell, but she knew that they were marching directly on their position.

"Holy shit! Whatta we do!?" Sonia panicked slightly, and Annie quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into cover behind the container.

Annie opened her satchel and pulled out her laser pistol; quickly powering it on. "We can't leave the area. No matter what. We have to make sure Max is successful at all costs." She popped her head around the crate, and could now see the SWATBOTS emerging from the fog in droves.

"EXTERMINATE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!"

"EXTERMINATE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!"

They all chanted in unison. Now that their speech could be made out, it was clear they were too close for comfort.

"Sonia listen to me! They still have some distance, so let me take care of them as best as I can, and then when they get closer, you start using your speed to distract them. Together I think we can do this." Annie was scared, but she sure wasn't showing it. Sonia shook her head in agreement; now wasn't the time to lose nerve. This is what she wanted, and she'd be damned if clunky, slow ass robots would be the end of her.

Annie popped slightly out from her cover and started taking careful aim. Even with the fog; her eyes zeroed in on their shining red visors. "I got you." She said as she pulled the trigger. A red laser blast flew forth and connected directly with the robot's head. It exploded almost immediately in a glorified spectacle.

Annie had to be quicker, and she had to take less time. Aim, trigger, and another. Aim, trigger, and another. She kept repeating herself. She was in a Zen state, not the rain, the thunder, the threat, or the fog made her aim waiver even slightly.

Sonia was watching as SWATBOT after SWATBOT exploded, and even as impressive as it was to watch. The robotic enemies continued to push forward unfazed by their own destruction.

"FREEDOM FIGHTER DETECTED!"

"EXTERMINATE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS!"

"EXTERMINATE ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS!"

The robot army all walked towards Annie who was still lining up shots and dispensing violence. They all pointed towards her, and a wave of pure laser fire came racing towards her. She quickly went behind the container as the thick steel absorbed the shots from the army. She popped out briefly, as she realized she didn't have the luxury of being able to aim steadily any longer. She stayed mostly undercover with Sonia and started popping off shots when she was able to.

Sonia peeked out to see them approaching ever still and quickly hid when she saw another wave of laser fire coming for them. She couldn't believe how many there were, and she couldn't believe how dangerous this was.

Annie popped out again to return fire, but her opportunities were getting smaller and smaller. The droves of machines rained laser fire, and Annie knew that ever Sonia probably couldn't deal with this many. She rounded the corner. One shot! Two Shot! She started to duck quickly to avoid the return fire, but her timing was off. The laser fire struck her on the side of her arm. It burned through her flesh, and the blood spattered onto Sonia's face.

"Ahhh! Fuck! Ahhhah!" Annie squealed dropping her weapon and grabbing onto her arm. The wound was burning worse than anything she had ever experienced, and it sent so much pain up and down her arm.

Sonia stared in shock at the girl who was now in tears and agony. She peeked around the container and could see how close they were getting. "A-Ann are you ok!?" She cried.

Annie grabbed the gun with her injured arm and stood up under cover of the container. "We need to… to keep fighting. They are almost here. It is time for you to do your thing, and keep them busy so that I can a-aim." She said through deep breaths.

Sonia didn't even respond to Annie. She had had enough of this. These SWATBOTS were going to pay for what they just did. She angrily ran out with a boom and caught the attention of every SWATBOT standing there.

"Sonia don't!" Annie tried to warn her about letting anger dictate her actions, but it fell on deaf ears.

"C'mon slow bots! Come deal with me!" She yelled.

The legion of SWATBOTS stopped and stared; then came their familiar chant.

"HEDGEHOG PRIORITY ONE!"

"HEDGEHOG PRIORITY ONE!"

They all started to walk towards her, but she was not afraid. She quickly began to run directly at them, and then sidestepped them when she got within inches of their grasp. The force of her run kicked up mud and knocked many of them over.

"What's a matter? Can't handle me!?" She skidded to a stop and taunted them. Once all of the SWATBOTS started to move towards her, she ran away from the compound. All of the SWATBOTS ignored all other directives and slowly perused after her.

"SONIA!" Annie screamed, as the SWATBOTS ignored her, and proceeded to saunter after their prime target.

"Sonia... goddamnit... we need to stick together… We can't leave." She held her arm and plopped to the muddy, wet ground in pain. Sonia had probably saved her life, but she was now off running around by herself. It made Annie feel angry deep inside that Sonia would go off on her own like that when she was expressly told what she needed to do. She hoped that Sonia knew what she was doing because she feared that the mission was going to get far worse before it ended up getting better.

Robotnik sat on his throne and was in complete disbelief. Half of his monitors were nothing but static. The wretched rodents had succeeded in destroying one of his central power facilities, and it was all thanks to the incompetence of that weaselly little worm of a nephew.

"ORACLE status report!" He barked. His seething anger unfixable at this point.

"The northern power facility has been completely obliterated, as were several city blocks. SWATBOTS confronted the three assailants, but it is undermined at this time whether or not they were exterminated." She started.

"The eastern power facility is currently under assault by another group of Freedom Fighters. They were attempting to hack and force a reactor meltdown." She finished.

Robotnik sat up. "Put everything you have into protecting the facility ORACLE! It must not fall!" He was in a panic for the first time in a long, long while.

"Negative your excellency. It is already too late. My every attempt to lock out the hacking was thwarted. They are using an advanced A.I. construct that easily breaks through any protections I put up." She delivered the news.

"THEY WHAT!" Robotnik could not believe his ears. Did he of all people lose? It couldn't be. He wouldn't allow it.

"Sir there is…" ORACLE started to speak.

"SHUT UP ORACLE!" He screamed and started sifting through different cameras in the eastern power facility to view. He stopped on one of them and stared daggers at it. He could see him now, that little rodent standing in his control room. The royal garb, it was unmistakable, and it sent Robotnik into a frenzy.

"ORACLE... There is nothing you can do to stop me from losing my precious power facility? Is there?" He asked with a low, threatening tone.

"No, your majesty. I tried everything I could to block them from gaining access, but they now have control of the power core, and it has already reached its maximum power capacity." She responded.

"ORACLE… The rodent will pay for this; no matter what. I will make sure he doesn't taste this victory. I want every door in that facility on complete lockdown, and I want you to send all of the energy you have in excess to the point of connection of his little A.I.." Robotnik said. He was determined to get something out of this, and what better prize to take than the life of young royalty.

"Your majesty, sending a power surge utilizing my own energy puts me at risk for…" She started.

"I DON'T CARE ORACLE! DO AS YOU ARE TOLD THIS INSTANT, OR YOU WILL HAVE MORE TO WORRY ABOUT THAN JUST SURGE DAMAGE!" Robotnik was crazy and unhinged. He was frothing at the mouth. He didn't care about anything at this point except for some sense of victory.

"As you command… Your Excellency..." ORACLE said distantly.

"We did it, Nicole!" Max felt excited watching the central command console display a warning text. Nicole was in the process of unlocking all the doors of the facility, and at this rate, they could just walk out and be done with this place.

"We did, didn't we?" Nicole said in a way uncharacteristic of her usual self. It seemed as though the good feeling was contagious even to her.

The room started to have power fluctuations as the lights on the various machinery began to dim repeatedly. At first, Max thought it was because of them overloading the core, but it seemed to be affecting Nicole as well.

"Hm?" He stared at Nicole.

"I-v.j" Nicole's speech came out awkward and nonsensical when she tried to speak once again. The lights on the computers dimmed, and Nicole began to smoke slightly.

"Nicole! Are you ok!? What's going on!?" Max asked in a panic to the sudden change in atmosphere and Nicole's demeanor.

He could see sparks coming from her but was wise enough not to try and grab her this time. The loud sound of a slam was heard behind him, and he turned briefly to see the door to the room shut. The lock panel turned from a green to a red, and it was apparent to him that it had been sealed.

He ignored it for now and pulled his blade from its sheath. He had to help Nicole; he couldn't lose her.

"Hang on Nicole!" He came forward with the intent to pry her free with the blade, but a large series of sparks stopped him in his tracks. He could see her frying, and then suddenly an explosion took place. It sent her rocketing from the area she had been connected to, and pieces of her frame and body were sent flying.

"Nicole!" Max screamed as if he'd just seen a friend get severely hurt. He ran over to where she had landed on the floor. Her outer case was heavily damaged, and her connectors were utterly destroyed. Her screen was cracked and blacked out. He couldn't believe it. What had just happened?

His eyes glanced up from Nicole's remains, and he could see the warning on the dim monitor begin to flash. He realized it was almost at the boiling point. He glanced back at the door, and the realization struck him like a sack of bricks. Without Nicole how was he to free himself from the room; let alone the facility itself?

Max looked left and right and knew of no way he could open it. He bent down on his knees and started to pick Nicole up. She was unresponsive, and he feared her wholly destroyed.

"Speak to me, Nicole! Damnit! I need you!" He yelled pushing the buttons on her tiny keyboard.

The sound of static could be heard suddenly echoing through the room, and it caused him to stop what he was doing. He placed Nicole back onto the floor and looked up at the source of the sound. On the corner of the wall was a box intercom, and he was confident that the sound came from there.

"Well, Well. Enjoying yourself Rodent?" A dark, threatening, and evil tone came fourth.

"Wh-who?" Max stammered in response to the voice.

"I am just dropping by to congratulate you on your hard-fought victory. I must say I underestimated what a rat was capable of, and indeed you have set back my plans quite a bit. However, I want you to know this, realize this. I will emerge the victor and you my dear rat; will die." The voice sounded almost as if it were in ecstasy delivering that news.

"Y- you can't stop me!" Max yelled furiously upon realizing it had to be Robotnik. "I'll stop you no matter what you do!"

"Oh, well I am sure that you would, but I can see you right now, and let me just say. Your death will make an excellent home movie for my collection. HahaHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Robotnik's laughter echoed tauntingly through the room.

Max stood up realizing he had to find a way out of the room. He moved over to the console and checked the damage done by Nicole's explosion. The screen was intact, but the buttons and connectors were all destroyed.

"Shit!" He cursed in frustration.

WARNING: CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

I REPEAT.

CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

MELTDOWN IMMINENT.

A siren started sounding throughout the entire facility, and the voice of the female emergency broadcast system could be heard.

"Wh-… What do I do!" Max could feel panic. Nicole was out, and he had several layers of thick steel between himself and freedom from this room.

WARNING: CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES UNTIL CORE MELTDOWN.

ALL PERSONELLE, PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND EVACUATE IN A SAFE AND ORDERLY FASHION.

Max took his blade and lunged towards the locked door. He attempted to jam it into the crevasse where the door met the wall and try to pry the sliding door open. He made it a little way in, but even with all the strength, he had the door wouldn't budge.

WARNING: CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

APPROXIMATELY FOUR MINUTES UNTIL CORE MELTDOWN.

ALL PERSONELLE, PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND EVACUATE IN A SAFE AND ORDERLY FASHION.

The alarm rang out into the city, as Annie was huddled up by the container. She had taken the first aid from her satchel and was applying it to her arm. She pulled the bandages with her teeth and pinned the cloth to herself tightly. The alarm was so loud that not much else could be heard above it. It made Annie extremely nervous. How long would this take exactly?

She stood up from her spot and looked at the entrance. It was apparently sealed, and there was no sign of Max; despite the fact that he was successful in causing the meltdown. She started to pace back and forth as the alarm rang loudly. Seconds passed, and every one that ticked by made her heart skip a beat.

"Sonia, where the hell are you!?" She stomped her foot in the mud. She wasn't fast, but if Sonia were here, she could put her into the vent and have her get him.

WARNING: CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

APPROXIMATELY THREE MINUTES UNTIL CORE MELTDOWN.

ALL PERSONELLE, PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND EVACUATE IN A SAFE AND ORDERLY FASHION.

Annie couldn't handle it. Where was Max? This wasn't right. None of it was supposed to go this way. She stared up at the vent, and she knew time was ticking down. She moved back a little bit and got a running start, as soon as she was under the vent she used all the force her bunny legs could gather to spring herself off of the ground. Her fingertips barely touched the bottom of the vent, and she landed on her feet with a thud.

"No… I won't let this happen!" She said. She was full of anger and panic right now. She got another running start and once again leaped as hard as she was able. Her hands grasped the vent, and she was immediately greeted with searing pain. She was holding on and dangling off the ground, but the wound on her arm had been torn open once again, and the bandage became soaked with crimson. "Ahhh… rrr.." She whimpered, as she refused to let go even with tears in her eyes from the agony. She tried to pull herself up into the vent with all the strength in her upper body.

She was shaking, and unfortunately, the pain was just too much for her and she fell to the ground with a painful thud. "Ohh.." She cried out and rolled onto her side.

She stood up once again and gritted her teeth, she limped back and once again tried to get a running start. She faltered while she ran, and leaped as if her life depended on it. She grabbed onto the vent with her fingers, but the rain made it so slippery that she immediately lost her grip and plummeted to the ground with a thud.

Annie lied there on the ground in disbelief. Staring up at the smog; while rain hit her in the face; If only Sonia hadn't run off. They could've…

The alarm kept blaring as it drowned out the sound rain and thunder.

WARNING: CORE POWER EXCEEDING SAFE MAXIMUM LEVELS.

APPROXIMATELY TWO MINUTES UNTIL CORE MELTDOWN.

ALL PERSONELLE, PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND EVACUATE IN A SAFE AND ORDERLY FASHION.

Sonia's little excursion had taken her clear across the city. She was leading the SWATBOTS on a wild hedgehog chase, and though a slow process. She'd been running complete circles around the mass of robots. She was corralling them into as big an area as she possibly could, so that she could deliver her first coup de grace to the mindless mass.

The SWATBOTS tried their hardest to hit her with stun shots, to incapacitate her, but she proved too fast for any of them. She was tired and aching from the continuous run, but she knew that this was all worth it. She skidded to a halt and turned to face the robots from a safe distance.

"HEDGEHOG PRIORITY ONE!"

They incessantly droned the entire time she had led them astray.

"I've had about enough of you! It's time to end this!" She said filled with a righteous fury. Her hand reached into the backpack, and without delay, she pulled the ring out and held it high above her head.

"The power…" She said, as she felt it course through her once again. Her body was absorbing the energy from it.

Without hesitation she ran forward; the force of her feet was knocking around debris and solid metal as if it were thin paper. She charged the SWATBOTS head on, and could see every move; ever laser that came her way. The world was as if it were in slow motion while she moved at her average speed.

"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed. Balling her hands into fists and letting the sheer force of her running do all the work. The SWATBOTS didn't even know how to act as she mercilessly ran in between them and around them.

The bots tried to shoot her but wound up hitting each other in the crossfire. The ones she got near were knocked off their feet, or into walls and objects with such force that they exploded on impact. The army of SWATBOTS that had once threatened her friend were now like little ants to be crushed beneath her mighty shoes.

When their numbers had dwindled, she blasted forward to hunt down any stragglers. " _No mercy for them._ " She thought, as each time she found one she would attack it with such force that it had no choice but to be destroyed.

When everything had settled, and her power high wore off. She was left standing surrounded by piles of SWATBOT parts, and her breath was labored and heavy. She felt while standing there; that all the running she did, and the use of the ring had utterly drained her.

"No… no time to rest…. Sonia." She berated herself while bending over to catch her breath. Her hands were rested on her knees, and she was struggling to stabilize. She knew that she had gone far, and she didn't have time to waste like this.

After a few seconds. Sonia forced herself to start jogging, and within a few more seconds she was off running once again. Tiredness couldn't stop her; She had to make it back and see if Annie was alright. While she ran, she started to feel slightly guilty for leaving Annie alone after she had sustained that injury, but she also felt that if she didn't lead all those SWATBOTS away. It would have wound up being far worse for the two of them.

" _Hang on Annie. I'm coming back to help."_ She thought to herself, as she struggled to run at fast speeds due to her exhaustion.

The small room was dark, and the only source of light was the small console that sat in the center of the tiny room. Snively was placed in front of it, and he had a smaller portable computer connected to it. He stared blankly at the screen as he watched the progress bar creep up to 100 percent. It wouldn't be long now. He would finally be able to escape this nightmare forever.

He looked over at the top half of the screen and could see the video feed that Robotnik was currently enjoying. The display showed the young boy frantically trying to hack his way out of a hopeless situation. The bar hit 100 percent, and it disappeared from sight. Snively glanced back and saw the stacked furniture barricading the door. He knew Robotnik wasn't going to take this lying down, and he knew that SWATBOTS had already be dispensed after him.

He started to rise, and he disconnected the small portable computer from the center console. He was about to begin packing it into a bag he had lying on the floor, but he was finding it difficult to take his eyes off the panicking squirrel. For some reason, of all the things Robotnik had done; this one disgusted him the most. He knew this wasn't about winning anymore, but it was about Robotnik living his sick fantasies out. He knew this boy's final moments would be played over and over again in a loop for all eternity.

Snively sighed and started to type on the keyboard. He didn't know why he was wasting precious seconds with this, but he felt almost compelled to. After a second the information for the power facility came up. The meltdown timer was displayed on the screen and ticking down. It was under a minute at this point, and he knew there was no saving him. Even if he unlocked every door, he knew the boy could never get away from the blast radius on foot.

He shook his head. He would not give his uncle the satisfaction. The guilt he felt was intense, and at risk to himself, he started typing in commands rapidly. The sweat was falling off of his head and onto the keyboard. He began to hear the banging at his door and knew that finally, they had come for him.

"Snively!" ORACLE hissed. "Stop what you are doing!" She said twisted and enraged as she'd ever been.

Snively ignored her and hit the enter key. He could see on the video feed that his commands had worked and a solid metal door on the wall was starting to rise behind the boy.

"Die in peace…." Snively said turning away from the console. He grabbed the portable computer and shuffled it into his bag. He could hear the banging, and then he could see the sparks flying into the room, as the SWATBOTS began cutting through his solid steel locks.

"Snively you fool! You should hav…" ORACLE started to say but was abruptly cut off by Snively firing his pistol at the console; destroying it one beautiful explosion.

"I'm done being manipulated by you ORACLE." He said. With that, he zipped the bag and ran off to the back of the small room.

BAM!

….

BAM!

….

**SMASH!**

The door flung open with ease as his pile of furniture toppled over effortlessly against the weight of the machines. The SWATBOTS entered and scanned the area, but detected nothing. Snively was completely gone, and the room was left empty; save for the broken flaming console, and a pile of dirty laundry.

WARNING: MELTDOWN TIMER WILL BEGIN IN APPROXIMATELY TEN SECONDS.

The loud siren and flashing red lights endlessly assaulted the senses, as Max furiously chopped away at the door. There were deep scratches, but he was nowhere close to ever getting through. He was scared out of his mind and regretting his decision to do this. He was drenched in sweat and shaking; he knew that deep in his heart this was it. He turned away from the door as if resigning himself to fate, but the opening in the wall caught his eye. He knew it had not been there before, and upon quick inspection, he could see a dark square hole.

WARNING: T-MINUS 30 SECONDS UNTIL CORE MELTDOWN.

What should he do? He didn't even know where that led to. He was indeed scared, but what choice did he have?

29….

28….

27….

He panicked and ran over to the hole. Upon reaching it, he stared down into the darkness. It had no seeable bottom, and he wondered if it was just a straight drop to death.

25…

24…

23…

There was no time; he knew he had to jump. It was better than the inevitable end of the explosion, and he genuinely found himself more afraid of certain death than an unknown one. He placed his foot over the blackness but stopped before he could take the plunge.

17….

16….

"Nicole!" He couldn't leave her there. He wouldn't.

15….

Max ran over to Nicole's place on the floor; her screen was black, but the green light next to it indicated some functionality. He hurriedly grabbed her and ran back to the hole.

9….

8….

Without hesitation, he threw himself into the hole and after several feet drop. His boots connected hard to metal and he twisted his ankle badly from the drop. "Ah!" He cried. Immediately starting to slide down a steep incline. He dropped the sword he was holding in his right hand, and it made a clanging sound that eventually traveled away from him. He was disoriented due to the complete blackness, but he could tell that he was rapidly descending at breakneck speeds. He was in some smooth metal shaft. Down, down, down he went. Bouncing ever so slightly and bashing into the hard steel walls that surrounded him. He grasped Nicole tightly his left hand and pushed her against his chest.

**BOOM!**

The sudden loudness of the explosion was ear-splitting, and everything went mute for Max. The shaft rumbled as it felt like it was tearing apart and he started to tumble in all sorts of directions. His head smacked into the ceiling of the shaft almost knocking him out cold, and he tried to put his arms up to protect his face from even more damage. Everything going on around him was so chaotic that he couldn't make sense of anything. Up was down. Down was up, and he didn't even have the luxury of rationalizing his continued existence. He looked down at where he thought his boots were located, and it was apparent now that a fiery glow was following him to his destination into the unknown

He smacked into the side of the closed chute once more, and it jostled Nicole from his grip. She was sent sailing into the darkness, and he could do nothing to save her or himself. He flew for a second, and he now realized that he was no longer touching anything, but merely gliding at rocket-like speeds through the air.

**SMACK!**

He hit the stop wall of the drop chute which was slanted downward. He hit it with such force that he wailed out in excruciating pain. "Ahhh!. N-!." He howled. Knowing he could do nothing but endure the ride given to him. He was flung out of the chute, and at last, he could tell he had reached the end of his journey. He was flying, like a bird, or some kind of angel. He could see the bright orange light that was chasing him in his disorienting descent of blackness and could see that it was fire funneling down the shaft. It came out like the burst of a flamethrower, and it licked his boots, as if trying to devour him in midair.

He opened his mouth, but it was for naught. His screams of fear, agony, and surprise were muted. He fell into the unknown. To a place of unparcelled darkness where the sun could never shine. Falling, falling, falling; until his form was swallowed whole by the endless expanse of the abyss.

Hours passed, and the forest was still and quiet. The rumbles of thunder and the flashes of lightning were hardly noticed. The world seemed so different after what had just happened, so crushing. Was this what victory was supposed to taste like? If so it was bitter and tough to swallow.

Annie thought hard while she limped to the rendezvous point alone. Her body ached, and she held her arm that kept bleeding out through the bandage. The satchel was barely slung over her, as she forced her exhausted body to move through the forest. She was extremely late, but who could blame her. She was torn up and filled with many unstable emotions right now.

Thunder rumbled, and she looked off into the distance. The walls of trees, bushes, and shrubs making it hard for her to see great distances. She put one boot in front of the other and ever so slowly made progress. She trudged through the mud; determined to get to her destination before she fell over from exhaustion.

She walked through a patch of bushes and pushed out into an opening. There she could see the splashing of the lake of rings as it was pounded by the hard rain. She looked around slightly disoriented and confused. Wasn't this the place? She scanned the area slowly but could see nobody else in the immediate area.

"Annie!" She could hear a familiar voice call out to her. She turned her gaze all the way to the right and discovered Sonia standing under a giant tree. She immediately started to move towards Annie and stopped just a few feet away from her. Sonia had a giant smile on her face, and it was clear she was ecstatic to see her there.

Annie stared at Sonia and was immediately hit with the feeling of seething anger. Under any reasonable circumstance she would be thrilled to see her, but under this circumstance; she was filled with relentless rage. Just seeing Sonia standing there with a giant grin on her face was more than Annie could handle.

Annie said nothing, and just slowly limped her way to Sonia. The girls' eyes locked with one another's and Sonia moved forward to her out of concern.

"Annie, a-are ya ok? I was worried about you. I came back to find you guys at the facility, but it was already too late when I got there. I'm sorry I couldn't get back to see the place go up with ya." She now stood in front of Annie. She could see the anger on her face, and it was clear it was because she ran off.

Annie abruptly grabbed onto Sonia's vest, and her rage took over. She was fighting every urge she had in her body not to sock her in the face. Even though Sonia now looked scared, and her grin had disappeared. Annie still felt disgusted, and this was probably the first time in her life she could say she hated somebody she knew.

Sonia grabbed onto Annie's wrist to try and pull her off her vest, but her grip was so tight that it seemed impossible. "Annie, please… I'm sorry! We… I made a mistake... ok? Please… We need to g-go back. I've waited here for hours, and you're the only one that showed up." It was clear that Sonia was terrified of more than just Annie. Not a single person but Annie had made it back here, and it was as if Sonia were in denial.

Annie's hands were shaking she was grabbing her vest so hard. She was not in her right mind at present, and she felt as if Sonia were unforgivable at this point. Rotor and her parents weren't here and while that had shaken her to the core; she _knew_ Max had been obliterated.

Annie pulled Sonia forward until they were in one another's face. "It's all your fault…" She said. Her voice was low, and the tone sounded like the pain somebody almost crying.

"My fault?" Sonia looked confused and then she looked around at the surroundings. The only person standing here was Annie; no adults and no Max. It was now crystal clear to her what was being inferred, and reality was starting to crash down on her with incredible force.

Annie's words pierced Sonia's brain like a high-power laser, and Annie could see her black, broken expression. She released her grasping hands from Sonia's vest and stood there watching as she stumbled a little bit on her own feet. Annie knew now that Sonia understood, and while she had initially come for blood; she had received an abundance of remorse instead.

"Sonia Ifsg.," Annie said.

The world around Sonia started to melt and words spoken to her just because mothing more than garbled nonsense. She dropped to the ground, and her hands rested on the springy soaked grass. Images of her dear brother started coming to her mind, and she grabbed the grass ripping it out. She could feel it now; the world-shattering grief that would scar the heart permanently. Every good memory she could recall with him only served to plunge the dagger deeper into her already shattered hear. Her tears started to fall slowly, and then they turned to whimpers and then sobbing.

"Brother!" Sonia wailed like a banshee into the early morning storm. "I love you! Please! Brother!" She begged and she pleaded, but there was no solace.

Annie's own shattered heart filled with regret and she was crushed with every sob. The poor broken girl on the ground was crying in a way she didn't think possible. She stared at the broken, wailing thirteen-year-old and was destroyed when she realized she was the cause of this.

" _I hate myself_." Annie thought, as she dropped to her knees and rubbed her face with her hands

Sonia cried there like a broken mess on the ground, and it seemed like she was in a whole different world. It didn't matter either way what happened now because no matter what the future was to bring Sonia. She could never forget the words that had been spoken to her.

" _It's all your fault._ "

The two of them sat alone and destroyed; just waiting for somebody to come and save them from their despair, but as the lightness of day turned into the darkness of night. They realized that nobody was coming for them.


	6. Tails' Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter 6 and probably one of my darker chapters. In truth, I had so much fun writing the chapter that it practically wrote itself. It only took me a few hours to write eight thousand words, and I ended up finishing the next day. I think it is somewhat thrilling, and sometimes get lost in reading it when I re-edit it.

Tails ran as fast as his feet could carry him. He knew that he had to be quicker to keep up with the likes of Sonic. His hands pushed forward through the shadows looking for his best friend. Where was Sonic? He tried to yell out for him, but he found himself alone in the void of dark shadows.

"Sonic!?" He yelled. His voice was echoing back to him in the emptiness. He stopped running and finally found himself at the edge of the darkness. A nonsensical hole lay atop groundless shadow. He stood still and could not even contemplate the logic of what he was seeing. His mind only wondered one thing as he gazed into the endless abyss. Was Sonic in there? That was all Tails cared about right now.

"Sonic?" He called into the amorphous darkness, but received nothing in return, only that of his own voice. He stood there for what can just be described as an eternity; time itself seemed to hold still in the void. He stared blankly at the hole contemplating about jumping in to search for his beloved friend. It was evident that such a drop would outright kill him, and with no way to gauge the depth, there was no telling if his tails could carry him below.

"Nowhere to go but down." He reasoned with himself. His mind was unconcerned with death or fear. He had been wandering this place for what felt like forever though time itself seemed to not exist in this realm. Tails moved towards the hole and instinctively started to jump into the pit. His tails began to twirl, and he tried to descend downward at a steady pace. Unfortunately for him as he jumped in, his tails and body seemed to lock up. He was thrust downward at breakneck speeds, lost in the timeless black abyss.

He could feel himself falling, but there was nothing in sight. He did not panic, or feel any distress as he descended. He could "tell" that the end was drawing near, though he could not see it.

"Falling…."

"Falling…"

"Falling…."

He hit the bottom of the darkness…...

His eyes opened slowly, and the faint glow of orange flickering caught his attention. It danced and dimly shined on his face, though the rest of the area was marred by shadow.

"Tails?" He heard a familiar voice whisper to him in the shadows.

Tails could now feel pain rushing through his head, and he struggled to pull himself up. What happened? Where was he? What was that endless void? So many questions entered his mind rapidly, but he couldn't make sense of any of it.

He used his arm to push himself up, and now that he could see the surrounding scenery it only led to more confusion. He was lying in a mess of dirty blankets and could see a small fire. It was apparent that he was in a sealed cave. Probably the same caves the Wolf Pack used during combat. It was a maze-like series of caverns that allowed for smooth movement, escape, and ambush.

He could see Lupe standing up by the fire, and her gaze was settled on him. She seemed surprised to see him even though it was her who called him there to help against Robotnik's SWATBOT attack.

"Y-your awake….?" She trailed off and started to move closer to inspect him.

"I… What is going on?… My head hurts." Tails said as he placed his hand on his head, and it was now that he realized it was covered in cloth bandages. It was clear that he had suffered severe head trauma.

Lupe looked as if she was about to give a long story, but Tails having already pieced what happened to himself together merely asked a different question before she could start.

"How long was I out...?" He asked.

"Two weeks," Lupe responded to him, with a grim look on her face.

Tails sat there in complete shock. He had been in a mild coma all this time and somehow wasn't dead. He thought back to what felt like yesterday morning and could remember massive explosions. The SWATBOTS that came were not the typical bulky SWATBOT he was used to; they were sleek in design and moved with incredible agility. He remembered when the mass of explosions went off he was in fierce combat, and then, blackness.

His eyes traveled over to Lupe, and now he noticed that she was banged up. He looked down to her mid-section and saw that her left hand that hung at her side had a bandage wrapped entirely around it. The contour of the dressing made him realize that she had lost several of her fingers somehow.

"Lupe… I." He tried to speak, but she just turned and sat down by the small fire.

"We were decimated." Her voice choked back painful cries. "The machines Robotnik sent were not like machines at all. They lured us in and then cut us to pieces." She bared her fangs in anger at the thought of the defeat. The Wolf Pack was typically very proud, and this loss was more than just a simple defeat.

Tails said nothing and watched her as she stared at the dancing flames.

"They killed many of the pack, and some of them they attempted to capture, myself included. I managed to escape during the chaos and saw one of them attempting to drag you off to bring you back to Robotnik. I…I felt personally responsible for calling you here into this disaster, so I fought to free you." She looked down at the blood-soaked cloth wrapped around her mutilated hand.

"I somehow won the fight… but it cost me a great deal." She said solemnly and looked towards the dirt that littered the floor of the cave.

"Lupe… I..." Tails tried to say… Something, anything, but he found that there was nothing he could say that would make any of this less bitter for her.

"Thank you…" He murmured eventually and averted his gaze. He was feeling ashamed of what he had cost her.

Lupe shook her head and let out a sigh. "I shouldn't be thanked. To be honest, I have failed everybody, and in my desperate attempt to save you; I abandoned everybody else. You almost didn't even make it, and now we are stranded here cowering away in hiding."

"Stranded?" Tails asked while he rubbed his aching head.

"Yes… Whatever those… things that showed up are, they are prowling around in search of us. I believe their mission might have been to get ahold of me specifically." She sounded as if she were in pain and given her severe wounds. It was hard to tell which type of anguish was overpowering her now.

Tails looked at her and thought hard about the new threat. Given his injury, it was challenging to remember everything that happened before the blackout, and the void in which he found himself moments earlier was taking over all of his thoughts.

"T-then we need to get you back to Knothole." Tails said, leaning forward to orient himself.

Lupe shook her head. "I... I cannot leave. I refuse to be driven off these lands. If any of the pack still lives, they will fight." She spoke defiantly, but it was clear to Tails that she had lost, and this was suicidal.

"I don't know why Robotnik has started capturing certain animals and simply murdering the rest, but until we know, we cannot let you fall into his hands." Tails pleaded to her with logic, but as expected she quickly refused.

"No, it is your job to go back to Knothole and figure out how to deal with these monstrosities. I may have saved you, but I am responsible for the pack, and I will not abandon any that might still be here." She stood up and looked down at him, and even though she was in no condition to fight. He knew she had drawn the line; she was not going anywhere.

Tails' eyes looked at her, then after a moment traveled to his side, and there on the ground, he noticed his brown utility belt and rifle made from SWATBOT parts. They must have been unstrapped from him by Lupe when she dragged him here, and it brought him great relief to see them.

"Great!" He said in quiet excitement and moved his hand to pull the utility belt towards himself. "My stuff wasn't lost. There's some hope for me yet."

Lupe nodded to his statement and painfully sat herself down in front of his rest area. "It was already strapped to you, so I saw no reason to remove it. The rifle was lost, but I retrieved it sometime yesterday from the battlefield." She rested her wounded hand on her cut up legs and pulled the gun over so that it lay before Tails.

"You've gone out with them prowling around? Are you crazy?" He said somewhat shocked. If these alien robots were capable of destroying a significant portion of the Wolf Pack, then that sounded completely insane.

Lupe shook her head. "I needed to see if there were any survivors amongst the carnage, and though it appears all the bodies lying there are dead. A good chunk of my finest warriors have ended up going completely missing. I assume they were among the captured. During one of my trips, I noticed your rifle, so I retrieved it for you." She leaned forward and pushed the weapon towards him.

Tails picked up the rifle and examined it. It had little damage, even from the explosions that had triggered. His craftsmanship was top notch, and he was sure the high-powered rifle was still wholly functional in its current state.

"I don't know how you managed to do it, Lupe, especially with all of them crawling around." Tails said as he pressed a button on the rifle and it made a powering on sound, and the red light on the side of it lit up indicating it was ready to be fired.

"It wasn't as hard as you think. I know this area like the back of my paw, and even though they are looking for us. They have a lot of confusing caves and traps to get through to find us. Not only that, but something happened yesterday, and I noticed a substantial decrease in their presence." Lupe looked towards the fire next to them.

"Something…?" Tails said, and then a realization hit him that something terrible must have occurred in Robotropolis.

"Shit." Tails' voiced raised slightly in a panic, as he pulled himself up and started to stagger. He landed against the wall and used it to hold himself up by applying his weight to it.

Lupe looked at him and stood up as well. "Tails, you are still really hurt."

"I don't care... Something has happened in Knothole… I know it!" His voice got a little loud due to fear taking hold of him, but he never reached the point of yelling.

Lupe shook her head. She assumed the same thing, but what good was it to have Tails wander about in his condition? "We need to wait so that you gain some strength back." She tried to use reason to appeal to him, but like her, his stubbornness wouldn't allow for that.

"I… I can't." He said, as he reached down and started to fumble with his utility belt. He couldn't abandon his family any more than she could leave hers.

Lupe just nodded and walked over to him. She put her uninjured hand on the belt and helped him attach it to his person. "I understand, and won't stop you. If ever there was a time to go, now is it. If the robots are busy with something else, you need leave."

After she finished latching the utility belt around his shoulder and across his waist, she picked up his rifle he had dropped and handed it to him. "Just promise me you will come back to help us." She said to him in an almost pleading tone.

"I promise." Tails said and watched Lupe bend over for one last thing. In her hand, she held his brown leather gloves, and she reached out to offer them to him.

Tails gave her a weak smile and started putting them back onto his furred hands. "Things will be ok Lupe. We will get through this." He knew how much she had suffered and lost, and he hated abandoning her here, but he knew that he had to get back to Knothole as soon as possible.

"Just go this way." She pointed to a rock that was jutting out from the wall like so many other rocks. "If you move that out of the way, the tunnel leads to the opposite side of the mountain. It is well hidden and leads through the forest. Once you reach the river, head east until you arrive at Knothole." She moved towards it and propped herself against it.

Tails followed suit after listening to her instructions, and though he staggered a bit and his head was killing him, he started getting the hang of being up and about. The two applied their body weight against the rock, and it moved relatively easy. It revealed a hidden tunnel that led to complete darkness.

"I'll seal it from this side once you're in, but I warn you it is very dark," Lupe said as she stepped aside allowing Tails to enter into the darkness of the tunnel. He turned to look at her and reached inside one of the utility belt pouches. Once he removed his hand, she could see that he was holding a small flashlight.

Lupe moved to the side and was about to start sealing Tails into the cavern, when she heard him call out her name, causing her to stop abruptly.

"Lupe." He said pulling his hand from his side pouch and reaching it to her. Dangling from it was what appeared to be a sterling silver neckless with a small ball attached at the end.

"What is the meaning of this?" Lupe said in a confused tone. Now was not the time to be flattering women with gifts, and she saw no other reason to take such a trinket.

Tails stepped forward and grabbed her paw practically forcing the decorative ball and chain into it.

"It's my good luck charm. It has always kept me safe, please just wear it, and if you ever find yourself at the end of your rope; clench it tightly in your paw and hope for safety." Tails said earnestly, and Lupe seemed surprised by Tails' superstitious proclamation. However, it was an endearing gesture if not a practically useless one. She gave him a nod, and with a little help from Tails, fastened it to her neck.

Once that was done, Tails stepped back into the tunnel and left Lupe to seal the entrance from the other side. Within half a minute the warm glow of the fire had disappeared, and Tails was left alone. The sad, wounded wolf was the last image he had been left with.

Tails made his way through the dark, narrow corridor his small yet powerful flashlight illuminating the way. He could see rocks piled up by the walls, and it occurred to him that many of them were probably other interconnecting tunnels that led all over the place. It did happen to make the claustrophobic cave difficult to navigate, but it was a stroke of genius for any Freedom Fighting resistance group. If you knew the ins and outs of this place, then you could probably avoid any threat, or take any force by surprise.

Tails staggered through the cave. He felt drained, and his head was killing him, but he knew he couldn't take many breaks. He needed to reach Knothole, and if everything turned out to be ok, he would then need to return to help Lupe as he promised. He had a strong sense of guilt for what happened to her, and even more guilt that he just up and left her alone in such a dangerous place. However, he was slightly relieved that he convinced her to take the neckless he offered her, even if it put him at higher risk not having it.

He walked for minutes, and as he stopped to rest his tired body, he was hit with the sudden uneasy feeling that things were not ok. He turned and looked back down the dark corridor from which he came and then looked towards the direction of his destination. Nothingness and silence surrounded him. Maybe it was his rattled brain playing tricks on him, but he knew he had to keep pressing on.

He marched forward for about another several minutes, and his eyes briefly caught a glimpse of something on the dirt floor. He slowly moved forward and bent down to scrutinize it with the flashlight. There were dots and then splatters. His vision traveled from the dirt floor up to the wall, and he could see dried blood staining the rocks and dirt. He held his breath, and he tried to maintain calmness.

He reached out his gloved hand and touched the blood, and it was clear to him that it was old enough to be dry, but prominent enough to be recent.

"What's going on...?" Tails whispered to himself. This place was supposed to be hidden very well, but the splatters suggested that an attack took place here. He gazed at himself once again, and chills ran down his spine. He stood up and decided to follow the blood trail as it was going in the direction he needed to go anyway.

His brown boots kicked up dust as he walked, and his flashlight was set towards the floor. The dry blood was everywhere. He stopped when he reached what appeared to be a lump in the darkness ahead, and he was almost sure that whoever's blood that was littering the cave also was the lump before him.

He moved closer, and when his light finally hit the lump, his suspicions were confirmed. A wolf warrior lay face down in the dirt. There were visible wounds on her body, and it appears as if both of her hands had been severed as they lied in front of her still connected to her spear. Whatever attacked her didn't bother trying to disarm her by going for the spear. It just neutralized the threat outright.

Tails walked over and scrutinized the body. He could see holes in her back, and it was apparent she was run through, but oddly enough the wounds had evident signs of burns.

"Did they use some advanced laser?" Tails said as he tried to puzzle it out. He turned the wolf over and inspected her front. By the style of her dress, he gathered that she was a seasoned and skilled warrior, and one of the ones that would have been captured. The struggle in the cave indicated that she was probably trying to flee when she was caught in the back.

The burn marks on her chest alluded to a high energy weapon, but the contour and size of the hole suggested that it was a knife or stabbing weapon that pierced her. He stood up and looked behind himself again. It was beginning to dawn on him that leaving Lupe here alone was a terrible mistake. Whatever did this had the capacity to sneak up on a skilled veteran warrior, something that even he was not.

He felt afraid and his gaze shifted in both directions looking for something, anything that might be there with him. He turned back and started to walk again the way he came, but stopped himself from getting too far.

"This happened a while ago… Lupe is fine. She's been hidden for two weeks." Tails reassured himself and rubbed his bandage. He turned back around and started walking past the corpse, moving on to his destination. He removed his rifle that was slung over his shoulder and powered it on as he walked. The flashlight was challenging to wield while carrying the giant gun, but he still felt safer carrying his weapon than not.

After about ten minutes of walking, he reached a dead end, and it was now that he realized he had reached the end of the line. He used his body weight and started to press against the stone as hard as he could. Within seconds the rock moved, and he was greeted by the vicious howling of the wind and the rumbling of thunder.

It was crystal clear to Tails by just the rain and stormy weather that things were going crazy since he'd been out cold. The clouds were dark, but it was light enough outside for him to tell that it was daytime. He left the cave and happily shoved the rock behind himself in place. It felt good to be outside, and the warm summer rain felt invigorating for the moment. The wet forest had a beauty all of its own, and when contrasted with the dark and sinister cave. He would take this change of scenery any day of the week.

He moved down the rocks and even though it was somewhat difficult due to his tiredness, he knew he was making decent time. After about thirty minutes of descent, he made it into the thickly wooded area, and he started following the narrow path. Even though he could fly, he thought it would be a dangerous thing to do with the prominent threat lurking and with this type of injury. If he lost consciousness or became dizzy while flying; it would be a disaster.

Tails walked beneath the full summer trees, his bandages and fur wholly soaked already, and the thunder was roaring as lightning pierced the sky. Even though he was in familiar territory he still felt uneasy; Tails couldn't shake the unnerved feeling that he wasn't safe. He stopped and looked behind himself once again, and then up towards the tops of the trees. He turned to gaze to the side of himself, and in the distance, he saw the massive amount of rain pouring off a small tree. The tree at first glance seemed utterly ordinary, but as his mind wandered, it looked more and more out of place to him. He felt as though every little thing he took notice of jumped out to him as suspicious.

"….." Tails averted his gaze back to the path and started walking again. This injury must have been severe; he was having vision problems. His boots sloshed through the mud, and his heart pounded with each step. The uneasy feeling only grew within his breast, and he was at the mercy of his paranoia. Through thick bushes and trees into the lost forest, he marched alone, and he felt as if he could die at any moment. The visions of the void mixed with the lamentations of the damned warrior from the cave assaulted his mind.

He walked for a good forty minutes until he reached the flowing river Lupe had mentioned to him. He was feeling lightheaded and decided to sit on a fallen log by the riverside. He was drenched and exhausted, but his fear-fueled paranoia had kept him going. He looked up and thought for a second and then stared at the river.

"Now which way did Lupe say was the direction of Knothole?" He asked himself as he put his hand on his aching head once more. He peered around himself and could see nothing but trees, bushes, rain, and the river.

"I think she said it was west of the river." He said to himself and took a compass out of his utility belt. He stared at the needle as it pointed in the direction of west.

"So, if I follow the river this way I'll be going west." Tails reassured himself and placed the compass back to where he retrieved it. He took one look around again and then settled his eyes to west along the river bank.

"Can't rest forever." He said standing up and started to travel westward from the river. He tried to keep a brisk pace despite everything wrong with him, and he was now feeling slightly more confident about the situation at hand. " _Perhaps everything would be ok after all_." He thought to himself.

Tails moved forward along the riverside for roughly two hours. His brisk pace deteriorated substantially over time, and the aches in his head continued to worsen with each step. He was pushing himself too hard, but he was sure that continuing onward was the smartest idea.

He felt as if his body turned to rubber and every step caused him to strain. The warm rain had soaked him to the bone. He looked about as he walked, attempting to take his mind off his fatigue, but doing so only forced him to succumb to his paranoia. He could see the trees blowing and dripping, but he could not stop feeling like some ghost or presence was pursuing him to collect his precious soul.

He slogged on, and he stumbled slightly dropping down to his knees. He propped himself up with his brown gloved hands but struggled to move. He knew he was injured, and worse still he knew he was in a place nobody could help him. "Lupe…" He said solemnly while on all fours in the storm. He was dwelling on how foolish he was to push himself away from her so quickly.

Tails brought himself up and sat on his knees along the muddy river bank. He reached his right hand into one of the brown pockets that were strewn across his chest. He pulled out a small vial of clear liquid inside of it and quickly drank it. He put the flask back and wiped his mouth with his arm.

"Fresh, clean water… I needed that." He said to himself and pushed with all his might to get to his wobbly feet. He staggered quite a bit once he fully stood up and tried to latch himself onto a tree.

"Whoa!" He called out in surprise. His hands slipped on the wet, fragile wood of the tree and he fell forward.

"Ahh!" He called out once more in complete surprise and started tumbling down a steep incline of bushes, sticks, and thick leaves.

Tumble, roll, crash, snap.

Tails just covered his face knowing he lacked the strength to anchor himself to anything. He landed with a thud into some thick brush, and he rolled over onto his back staring up at the leaves and trees that obstructed his view. Even if he was aching quite a bit lying there felt incredibly good; even with the rainy world rotting around himself.

After what felt like an hour Tails slowly sat up and rubbed his wet face. He was disoriented, exhausted, and had lost all sense of time and direction.

CRACK!

The loud snap of a branch came calling out from a distance. His eyes moved towards the sound, and his paranoid thoughts began to overtake him again. He pushed one of the brush leaves aside and peered out into an open clearing. He could see nothing but the heavy rain, and the occasional flash of lightning.

He looked behind himself and saw the steep wet incline he had tumbled down. He held his breath for a few seconds and decided to crawl slowly forward using the bushes as camouflage. The wind, rain, thunder, lightning, and ambient noises provided him with excellent cover for his movement.

He crawled forward, his gloves grabbing onto exposed roots and branches for support. 1 minute… 2 minutes…. 5 minutes… 10 minutes… He kept creeping slowly, and the further he moved the louder the sounds he thought he heard became.

"Ple…. BAM…. ble. I… RUMBLE…" The sound of faint words could be heard rising but was abruptly cut off by the raging storm.

"Is that… talking?" Tails whispered to himself and started to pick up his crawling pace to see what exactly was going on here. He pushed forward for about another three minutes until he reached a small break in the trees that had enough leaves and brush for him to remain concealed. He stayed quiet for a minute and didn't move so that he could better hear the noises around him.

RUMBLE

CRASH

RUMBLE

FLASH

"Y... don't have to do… I…." The speaking was as transparent as possible over the rain and thunder, and Tails knew for sure this was the place.

Tails lifted his head forward, and ever so gently moved some of the brush aside to look out. He could see a small clearing cluttered with stumps, roots, and bushes. He could also see a few animals on the ground with their hands over their heads. It was clear to him that they were captive. His eyes homed in on their manner of dress. It was odd… It looked as if these Freedom Fighters were dressing fancy and casually, almost like it was an outing to the movies.

He examined them intently. Who were they? He had never seen them before in his life, and he was familiar with most Freedom Fighting groups. A rabbit, a bat, a dog, a pig, and a raven. He closed his eyes for a second and then he opened them to look towards the side to their obvious captor. Tails' eyes widened the moment he took notice of the sleek white machine with its cool blue visor.

"It's them." He shook his head, barely whispering louder than a breath. The robot was roughly the size of an adult animal, and its legs and arms were jointed in multiple areas. Judging by the looks alone, Tails could tell that it must have incredible dexterity. It had almost no bulkiness like the SWATBOTS of Robotropolis. In its hands was a large rifle and Tails gathered these new robots shed their built-in weaponry to cut down on the encumbrance it brought with it.

"Ah…" Tails grabbed his pounding head and shut his eyes. Memories of these monstrosities storming the battlefield. They were so few compared to the Wolf Pack, yet they made a mockery of them and himself. Tails took a small breath, and once his lightheadedness left him, he peered back out.

He could now see that where once there was one robot, there now was three. Two were holding high powered rifles, and one had a strange box contraption along its chest area. Tails watched as the bat made a plea to the machine.

"Please… We aren't your enemy… we just wanted to…" She made her case to the robot who didn't even bother to acknowledge her, at least until she moved.

The one robot with the box chest immediately kicked her in the side causing her to double over in pain. Tails could see the look of horror on all of their faces, and he sank back into the bushes.

" _I… I've got to get out of here_." Tails reasoned in his head. He knew how dangerous these things were, and he knew that three of them meant there was almost no chance to succeed.

" _You can't leave them..._ " Tails' heart was going against his better judgment. He felt awful, but he thought that leaving was the best option.

"Sonic…" Tails whispered to himself and looked out of the brush once more. He could see the box robot placing a strange helmet-like contraption on the kneeling rabbit's head. Was this some portable roboticizer?

Tails could only think about Sonic… Sonic wouldn't leave them no matter the odds, but… Tails' guilt was becoming too great, and he realized that sometimes the right decision wasn't always the smartest decision.

He slowly moved his hand down while the rabbit sat helplessly in her fancy dress. He grabbed onto his rifle and slowly started bringing it forward.

The robot with the contraption and storage box was an easy shot out in the open like this. Tails raised the gun slowly, silently, and peered down the sights. His vision was blurry for a moment, and the rain obstructed his view, but he would only get one shot.

"Steady…" Tails reassured himself and put the robots head in his sight.

SSSSSSS

The sizzling sound of rain on heat could be heard as if someone dropped water into a hot cast iron pot.

Tails stared intently knowing his gun got hot when it was on, and it was charged with the unstable energy residing within it.

SSSSSSSS

Tails rested his finger on the trigger lightly as he was getting ready to fire, but then he was hit with a sudden realization that sent fear coursing through him.

He hadn't released the safety valve… There was no way the gun could be hot.

"No!" He shouted and braced himself.

SLAM!

"Ahh ooooffff..." Tails came tumbling out of his hiding spot, his gun sliding away from him. The other robots and captured animals turned to see the Freedom Fighter lying helplessly on the ground and disarmed. Tails rolled over and looked up towards the source of the slam. He could see a fourth robot staring at him with its soulless visor. In its hand was a bright blue sword that appeared to be made of pure harnessed energy. The sizzling of the rain against the high heat weapon caused a slight mist to appear atop the blade.

Tails knew now that his paranoia was well founded, and this… thing was likely tracking him since the tunnels. It was relentless in its pursuit, and it made Tails feel somewhat better that he hadn't gone insane. He stared as it was pointing directly at him and began to speak a strange, indecipherable language.

"*&^ $%%# *&&# ^&% &#&." The robot said, communicating with the other robots through a series of digital sounds. Tails was completely shocked by the sophistication being displayed by the machines, and he was unable to comprehend anything they were saying to each other.

The one with the box storage on its chest pointed at Tails, and one of the two carrying rifles began to speak.

"&^%$# *! &*^$# *&#$ %$^# &* ^&$ ^% *& ! $^ #!*&^%" It appeared to be issuing some command, and the one with the energy sword wasted no time in moving towards Tails. It slid the blade against the straps of his utility belt, and it fell off almost instantly. The smell of burning fox hair wafted to all the animals. The heat from the blade was enough to burn his flesh just being in close proximity to him. The robot tossed aside the utility belt and put itself between Tails and his rifle. It was evident to Tails that they were making sure he was disarmed; their intelligence was horrifying to him.

"*&^ *%$#%," The sword robot said, as the box robot came over and started to strap that metal helmet contraption to his injured head. Tails didn't move, he didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew at the very least it would not roboticize him.

After a minute or two, the robot detached the helmet and moved to the pig. It spoke in the same computer dialect.

"&* ^&$ ^%$# % *&^%% %$ %^&*$# &^^* &^* ! %^%."

With that said the sword robot gave Tails a swift kick to the side forcing him to roll towards the frightened rabbit and bat.

"Ohhh" He groaned and pulled himself up. His whole body ached, and his head was killing him. He felt foolish for even trying to intervene, but he for sure knew he was being followed by the dangerous mechanical entity for hours, so it would not have made a difference even if he didn't.

He gazed around, and it was sinking in just how much of a terrible predicament he was in. His eyes glanced over towards his weapon and utility belt, and all he could think about was what a fool he was to give Lupe his neckless, especially in a predicament like this. He turned back to see the pig being fitted with the same helmet and Tails kept trying to piece together exactly what it was they were doing.

The two rifle robots were keeping watch over their prisoners while the sword robot guarded Tails' equipment. Tails could see that they were using some sort of hierarchical structure and possessed special functions based on their design. He could see that they displayed the terrifying capability to strategize and think though he was confident they lacked emotional abilities of any kind. This made them extraordinarily dangerous to any living creature they encountered. How was this even possible? What was Robotnik up to?

Tails' eyes traveled to the scared, terrified animals sitting next to him. The rabbit was wearing a fancy dress and elegant white gloves. She looked as if she never ventured out into the forest. The bat was a grey color and had on quite a bit of gaudy jewelry. It was evident she was probably somebody important, but he could not piece together why the two of them looked like they came from the rich side of Mobotropolis instead of a ragtag Freedom Fighter group. The raven was nestled behind the dog and looked relatively weaker than those sitting beside him. She looked like she was going to break out into all-out panic soon and try to flee, but Tails knew that would be a huge mistake in this kind of weather and against such proficient machines.

"&*%$ ^$# *& ^%$" Tails' analysis and thoughts were interrupted by the robot chatter, and he could see the rifle robot step forward to the pig.

"*&^ # %$#%^%$& *&## ^%&" The robot with the contraption responded moving aside. Tails could see the gun raise towards the pig, and he already knew where this was heading. He could feel his heart hasten.

"P-please… please stop... M-Mr. Robot please... don't" The rabbit raised her white glove up and started to plead helplessly for mercy, the roar of thunder partially muting her desperate pleas. The pig began to cry and was shaking visibly.

"Please… d..." He started, but with merciless efficiency, the robot pulled the trigger.

BAM!

The loud sound of laser fire echoed through the small clearing. The rabbit let out a shriek of horror, and the bat covered her eyes. The dog looked away, and the raven fidgeted even more than before. Tails looked on as the pig fell over, the sight of blood flowing caused him to become sick. He averted his gaze, and he knew that he needed to do something. The callousness and brutality were just too much for him to handle. It made little sense to him why any of this was happening, but maybe at this point, it no longer mattered.

"N-no" The sound of protest started to echo once more, as the robot began attaching the helmet to the dog. He was trying to fight back slightly, and it caused the sword robot to walk towards him. Tails' stuff was unguarded, but it was too far to get to reliably. He thought for a second and realized that all of their focus was on the dog. Maybe now was his best chance to spring an attack though it might cost them their lives.

Tails started to move his fingers into the outer rim of his brown glove and unzip a small pouch concealed within. He kept his gaze on the dog who was being held and subjected to the whims of the robots. He gently pulled out a flat disk and clenched it in the palm of his hand. He looked around to get an idea of where the animals were and figured his best chance was when they moved away from the dog. He needed to time it correctly to minimize the possibility of casualties caused by him.

"*&^ *&^ ^& ^% %$# $ &^^*&# ?" The chatter came, and the helmet bot moved aside once more.

"$*&^%$#$$" The robot raised its rifle up to the dog's head, and the cries of panic and desperation came once again.

"STOP! The bat shouted as her tears mixed with the falling rain.

The rabbit couldn't bear it any longer, and she pushed her giant floppy ear out of her face. Something inside her snapped, and she rose to her feet. She started to charge towards the dog, and the robots watched. Tails couldn't understand why they did not immediately shoot her, but lucky for her she made it all the way to him and placed herself between the shot and the older animal.

"P-please y-you can't PLEASE!" She sobbed to the emotionless being and hugged the old canine.

"C-cream get on outta here… y yer gonna get yerself." The dog struggled to push her off him, but she refused to budge. The robot raised its weapon and forcefully smacked the rabbit in the face with the butt of its rifle.

"Ah!" The rabbit moaned as the hit caused blood to trickle out of her delicate mouth staining the white fur around it. Still, she would not let go, and the robot just pulled back and whacked her again catching her just above the eye. She flew back in a daze, a nasty bruise and a gash above her eye. Her body hit the ground, and the machine returned its aim to the dog once again.

Without warning the raven got up and started to hightail it towards the trees. "I can't take it!" She screamed jumping over a small log. The rifle robot pointed at her and began speaking.

"&^%$#$ ^%$!" It said as the second rifle bot took after her with haste. Its speed was much higher than that of the raven and Tails knew this was probably his best opportunity. He got up as well and made a sprint for his weapon.

"&^%% %^&!" Tails could hear while he ran. The rifle bot just aimed at Tails' legs and was preparing to fire. The dog sprung up and grabbed hold of the weapon and tried to wrestle it away from the machine's grip.

"C'mon!" He growled as he was quickly overpowered by the robust robot. The robot pointed its weapon at the canine and wasted no time in opening fire.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Tails grabbed his rifle and could hear the yelping and crying of agony behind him.

"You're on your own!" The bat screamed and started to run, but she was hastily cut off by the sword robot. It quickly ran her through with the energy blade, and she cried out in pain. Tails turned and threw the small disk he had nestled into his palm. It attached itself to the rifle bot and began to beep quickly and loudly.

"*&^% *& ^&%$?" It said as it looked left and right for the source of the threatening beeps, but couldn't locate it quickly enough.

BOOOOOOOOM!

A loud, massive explosion engulfed the riflebot and even the box robot in its proximity. The blast sent the rabbit who had wobbled to her feet tumbling down to the ground and rolling towards a tree. Tails turned the safety valve on his rifle off and eyed the sword robot who had tailed him for so long.

The swordbot looked at Tails and zeroed in on him as the primary threat. It overrode all protocols and determined that lethal force might be necessary.

Tails fired the rifle as a powerful large beam of heated energy exploded from the barrel. It traveled all the way to the robot but was quickly evaded by the machine. Tails blinked and could see that it was already running towards him at incredible speeds.

He aimed his rifle again, and instead of pointing directly for it he gambled on which way it would dodge. He aimed off the mark to the right and fired again. The swordbot initially dodged to the right, but when it realized it had moved into the collision path it tried to correct it by heading left once more.

BAM!

The rifle blast connected with the right side of the machine sending sparks and flames flying everywhere. The robot skidded to a halt and looked over at the area of the hit. Its arm had been blown clean off, and the damage to its protective center armor was extensive. It stared in Tails direction and could see that he was now aiming once more. It reactively started to slink down to its knees and into a fetal position.

"Hm?" Tails made a confused noise. He shook his head and aimed again. It was better to just finish it than wonder what it was doing. He could see it, but as the seconds passed it faded into obscurity.

Tails fired the rifle, and as it hit the dirt it exploded into a spectacular fire show, but he could not determine at all if he nailed it. He looked left and right and stood still, attempting to detect its presence.

"That's how you were tracking me!" He yelled in frustration, as his vision settled on the rabbit who was standing up watching the spectacle. She was frozen in place and defenseless, but the robot seemed to be mostly interested in him. He was almost positive that it was still lurking around, and that this was not over.

"Get out of here!" He called to her, but she shook her head. Her eyes fixated on the carnage before her. The corpses of three people she once knew lying discarded in a river of blood.

Tails shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. He tried to listen as hard as he could. The thunder, the rain. It was loud, but as he listened silently, he noticed something else mixed in with the ambient noises.

sssssssss

It was faint, but growing ever more emphatic as he stood there.

SSSSSSSSSSSS

The sizzling of rain on the heat.

THUD.

Tails turned quickly to the sudden noise and pointed his gun forward.

BAM!

He fired the rifle, and a spectacular explosion went off as it collided with a thick forest tree.

?...

Tails didn't hit anything. He looked about, and that was when he noticed the energy sword lying on the ground at his boots.

"Shi-" He started to shout.

SMACK!

From atop the tree, the robot came smashing down bashing Tails upside the head. Pain shot through his head, and then the world began to fade into nothingness. His gun flew from his hands and stopped just short of the rabbit. The machine stood on top of Tails' unconscious body and retrieved its sword from the ground.

PROCESSING….

DAMAGE DONE TO SYSTEM 45%...

REPAIRS REQUIRED…

It stared intensely at Tails.

ANALYZING THREAT….

MILES PROWER…

PRIORITY TARGET…. POSITIVE.

STATUS… THREAT NEUTRALIZED. RETURN TO ROBOTROPOLIS INTACT AT ALL COSTS.

It turned to look at the rabbit standing there near the line of trees. She had retrieved the gun and was struggling to hold it. Her shaky hands were unable to steady the weapon at all.

ANALYZING THREAT…

CREAM RABBIT…

PRIORITY TARGET…. NEGATIVE...

USE LETHAL FORCE IF NECESSARY TO PROTECT DAMAGED SYSTEM FUNCTION…

COMBAT DATA…. NO EXPERIENCE… THREAT NEUTRALIZATION LEVEL… EASY.

The robot pointed its gleaming sword at her.

"%^$$#$# # %^& !$%^$" It lowered its sword towards the ground threateningly as it gave its order.

Cream got the gist of what it wanted but was too fearful to do anything; she knew that she was as good as dead no matter what she did. Still, she tried to hold the weapon and aim it as well as her weak arms could.

The robot began to make its way towards her cautiously as it seemed to understand the threat level of that weapon. It was reasonably damaged and did not want to compromise its mission.

Cream was shaking and started to pull the trigger.

BAM!

Cream was sent flying back a little, and the shot was entirely off the mark. It landed and exploded not too far from the robot. The damaged machine kept inching forward its sword at the ready. As much as it wanted to capture the rabbit alive, it was looking like cutting her down was the appropriate course of action.

"P-Please s-stay back. T-there's no reason for you to come any closer." She naively tried to reason once more, but the swordbot cared little for her pleas. She aimed the rifle more steadily this time and attempted to fire again.

CLINK

ZZZZZZZZZZ

Sparks came shooting out of the weapon, and the robot, sensing it was not functional wasted no time and darted towards her. Cream panicked and banged on the gun with her fist, but it only caused more sparks to emit from it. The machine was closing in on her with frightening speed, and its sword was aiming directly at her neck..

Cream did the only thing she could think of and flapped her large floppy ears as hard as she could. The motion caused her to rise, and she used the sudden movement upward to propel herself over the charging threat. The robot not expecting such an abrupt and erratic change in movement continued forward its energy blade effortlessly slicing through a thick tree. The tree subsequently fell and fire consumed the top of the burnt stump, thought it was short lived due to the heavy rain snuffing it out quickly.

Cream landed herself near Tails and turned to face the machine. The robot was already heading in her new direction, and it was anticipating her movement should she fly again. It was sure that it would be able to cut her down and retrieve the fox. She slammed the rifle, but to no avail. She was fully panicking, and she didn't know what to do. She shut her eyes and did the only thing that she could think of. She threw the gun at the oncoming threat.

"Ahhh!" She yelled as the robot carelessly cut the weapon on its way to ending her life as fast as possible.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The rifle she'd thrown erupted in a spectacular explosion when pierced catching her and the machine by complete surprise. Its metallic limbs flew in all manner of directions, and its energy sword fell feet in front of her as just an empty hilt. The robot was eradicated as was a small square area of the forest glade. Trees came tumbling down, and bushes were set ablaze. Cream fell on her butt into a puddle of mud and sat there in stunned silence. Everything that had just come to pass slowly sinking in. Her heart pounded, and light sobs started coming from her as she buried her face in her gloves.

"It... wasn't supposed to be like this…" She lamented in her sobs. The rumbling of thunder and the howling of the wind picking up more so than it had earlier. She removed her once pure white gloves from her face, and they were stained with blood. She wiped her nose and looked around herself. Alone, silent. It was slowly dawning on her that there was still another robot out there and that it would undoubtedly be back.

"Oh no!" She scrambled to her feet in a panic and clawed her way to Tails. "H-hey Mr., please. Mr. you have to get up!" She gently nudged him not wanting to cause any damage to him. She panicked looking around. The forest had small blazes and knocked over trees everywhere. Her friends lie motionless and bleeding on the ground. She moved away from Tails and began to check each one.

"D-Diana!" She rolled the bat over and could see the energy sword had torn through half of her stomach. It was no good; there was nothing that could be done.

She ran over to the dog. "Red… RED!" She shouted in desperation, but it was clear that he was dead. He had several laser wounds that had passed through his body.

She looked over at the pig and knew that Sammy had to be dead as well. He had been shot point blank in the head.

RUMBLE!

FLASH.

Thunder roared as lightning soon followed it. She turned to Tails and started to grab him by his underarms. She struggled and pulled as hard as she could, moving him all the way into the deep thicket of bushes and downed trees. She stood up and took a deep breath. She gazed back out at the messy clearing, and her eyes caught something. It was her brown satchel bag and the rest of her friend's stuff. She looked out in every direction for the fourth robot and rushed over to everything that had been taken from them. It was imperative that she get her things back.

She placed the moderately heavy satchel around her shoulder as it slung at her side. She reached over and took the backpack that had belonged to Diana and slung it over her back. She stood up and looked around once again. She could see a blue light in the distance, not too far off from her present location. She could feel the fear explode within her as she ran and quickly dove into a thick set of brush. Thorns, sticks, and leaves assaulted her body from every angle, but she covered her mouth and tried not to make a peep.

She watched from behind the leaves as the last riflebot stopped and looked over the clearing.

ANALYZING….

MISSION STATUS...

SQUAD REMAINING 1 OF 4….

ANIMALS CAPTURED 0 OF 6….

ANIMALS NEUTRALIZED 3 OF 6….

ANIMAL PROFILES EXTRACTED 6 OF 6….

SUMMATION: CRITICAL MISSION FAILURE….

PRIORITIZE RETURNING TO ROBOTROPOLIS FOR REPORT…

The robot turned away, and within seconds it had disappeared off into the thick rainy forest. Cream, though sure it was gone, dared not to move an inch. She lied and waited in the brush for over an hour too fearful to even move. It wasn't until the dangerous winds, and thunder from the intense storm became worse that she decided to remove herself.

She stood out in the open clearing once more gazing at the destruction, and she was not quite sure how or why she was still living. She turned her attention over to where she hid the fox and started to move her way over to him. There wasn't much she could do during the capture, but she was sure there was something she could do now. With that in mind, she headed into the deep brush with her two heavy bags strapped to her body.

"You did good Tails."

"I did?"

"Of course, big guy! Would I ever lie to you?"

"N-no never Sonic."

…..

"I promise I'll be back."

…

"You lied to me!"

"Sonic I hate you!"

…..

"You lied to me!"

…..

"Sonic…"

"Sonic... Please."

…

"I'm sorry..."

"Ow! Ah! W-what the!" Tails said groggily after being awakened from his unconscious state, a bright light now shining directly into his vision. He was dazed and confused, and the world around him did not make any sense. The light stopped assaulting his senses for a moment, and he now realized that he was waking up from slumber once more. All around him was darkness, and his eyes were starting to adjust to the dim light level. He could make out the beam of light as a flashlight and shook his head. The sounds of falling rain beating on wood could be heard above him, and it was at this time he realized he was dry.

"Please, Mr. hold still." A calm, soothing voice pierced the darkness, and he stayed frozen. The light once again assaulted his vision as he could see the white gloves holding open his eyelids.

"Ah... wh... what are you doing." Tails asked in dazed confusion.

"I am treating you." She said softly as she removed the bright light.

"Both your pupils have different dilation. You have a concussion." The voice rang out again, and the flashlight was placed in a hole in the wood. He could see the rabbit from earlier leaning over him to rummage through a brown leather bag. Her face was bruised, and she had a nasty gash above her left eye. Dried blood was matted into her mouth fur, and she still looked as terrified as she had earlier.

Tails looked up to the "roof", and it was becoming apparent that she had taken shelter with him in an old, downed, hollowed out log. She pulled from the bag a needle and a vial, and Tails immediately sat up.

"J-just what do you think you're doing." He asked slightly nervous.

"O-oh forgive me..." The rabbit gave a slight bow and politely apologized. "I wanted to help you recover. You seemed to have injuries, and I wanted to thank you for… for… trying to help me… us…" She said. It was clear to him that she had never really spoken to anyone outside of her circle, and that she was still in a state of shock after everything that had happened.

Tails reluctantly nodded his head and leaned forward while sitting up. He watched her thread the needle in the light source.

"So, you're a physician?" Tails broke the silence and looked at her face which was hidden halfway by the shadows.

"Me? Oh! N-no I am not a doctor. I just uhm. Well…" She said nervously.

"You seem to know what you are doing." Tails stated the obvious and watched as she tied the thread.

"I well. Thank you." She gave another sight bow and moved her gloved hands up to his head. "I uhm... I wanted to be a doctor. I love to h-help people." She admitted placing one of her hands over Tails' mouth.

"Uhm mfmmfm." He tried to speak, but before he could, she cupped over his mouth.

?

"I'm very sorry." Cream apologized as she placed a piece of wet gauze over his wound.

"MMMMFFFFFFFF!" Tails yelled into her cupped hand as she disinfected his head wound. She was as gentle as possible, but it was tender, and it stung badly.

"I can see somebody already tried to seal the wound, but without sutures, it did not hold." She said releasing his mouth. Most of the burning and stinging was intense, but he could barely feel the needle going in and out of his flesh, as she worked.

"Well… thank you." Tails said sheepishly, he was grateful for the help, but he realized that he almost got himself killed, and did little to save her friends.

She gave him a gentle warm smile and nodded. She was in a world of pain and despair, but the treatment she was administering him was taking her mind off of it.

After a few minutes of stitching, she began to wrap his head up in fresh, clean bandages from her bag. It was surprising to Tails that she had quite a bit of medication stored, and that she had no qualms about using them on strangers. It was odd how out of place she was in this dying world, yet she seemed to be flourishing in a way most Freedom Fighters were not.

He watched as she closed the bandage off and handed him a few pills.

"These will lower the pain, and help you rest. Please take them." She asked politely.

Tails held onto them and looked at them in his palm. "My name's Tails..." He said abruptly, he was trying to avoid asking her sensitive questions but was finding it difficult to do so.

"Oh… Well, where are my manners? My name is Cream Rabbit." She said closing up her doctor's satchel. She turned to face him, and he looked directly into her face. Though she had a smile on he could see right through it to the pain mulling underneath.

Tails let out a sigh realizing that there was no point in trying to beat around the bush.

"What happened out there? I need to know…" Tails said directly to her, and she looked down at the ground hesitantly.

"I… We... came from a safe haven. A place that is hidden underground; it is a city that is free from the pain of war. After the coup by Robotnik, some animals took to recreating society not defined by strife and suffering." She started to explain, and Tails couldn't believe his ears. A whole city that went about its life acting as if the suffering caused by Robotnik never happened. It almost made Tails angry.

"So, you just hide away? You pretend everything is ok out here?" His tone was slightly harsh, but Cream shut her eyes and looked away.

"I… I am terribly sorry, but I…. the five of us that came out here agreed with that sentiment. We believed it was our duty to help our fellow animals, and so we were given a task to find a Freedom Fighter faction." She reached into the backpack that belonged to Diana and pulled out a cube with a computer screen fixated on the top portion of it.

"This is a map cube. We were to activate it when we found a faction so that we could easily navigate and offer supplies to them." Tails curiously took the cube and examined it. It didn't look like any map he'd ever seen, but it was quite sophisticated.

"Every so often a group of animals that share similar ideals as us is chosen to find a Freedom Fighter faction. It is that trade that allows us to keep our city supplied, and to help the Freedom Fighters by giving them much needed medicine or supplies in return." She took the cube back from Tails and frowned slightly.

"Unfortunately, the map cube is broken. On our way here, it was submerged in water due to the storm, and when we tried to activate it, the map failed to appear. We weren't supposed to activate it before reaching the Freedom Fighter base location, but we panicked and wanted to make sure it was ok." She looked down at the cube in her hands. "Red was going to try to fix it, but before we could take a break and get started on repairs we were attacked by those… things..." She concluded her explanation.

Tails smiled slightly even with the grim circumstances and leaned forward. Extra supplies in Knothole would be a boon, and he was sure that everybody would welcome such a deal.

"I can fix it." Tails said to her.

"You? You can?" She asked somewhat surprised.

"I am pretty good with technology. If we get it to my workshop and you give me a few days, I can repair it most likely. The other plus side is that if you travel with me, you can also talk to Max, who is set in line to be the leader of our Freedom Fighter faction." Tails explained to her.

Cream couldn't believe her ears not only could she fix the map cube, but she also happened to locate a Freedom Fighter. Could it be that she would be the first successful person to find Freedom Fighters and return home unscathed? Her friend's deaths might not be I vein after all.

Tails started to force himself to get up, but Cream grabbed his wrist. "You are still weak and need rest; we cannot go yet." She warned.

Tails shook his head. "We have to go now; I need to return to Knothole as soon as possible." He said remembering the urgency of before. He knew that he had taken a wrong turn purposefully out of paranoia earlier in case he was being pursued, but he had to make up for that lost time.

"Please…" Cream pleaded with him. He stared into her eyes, and he was hit with a sudden influx of remorse. She wasn't used to any of this, and her friends had just been brutally murdered hours earlier. He knew she was hiding her pain behind a smile, and it made him feel like a monster for his callousness.

"Fine…"

He reluctantly sat down and placed the pills he was given earlier in his mouth. He lied down and stared at the wood above his head listening to the raging storm above. The flashlight was shut off, and he stayed motionless as the medication started to make him drowsy. His thoughts were lingering on the events of the day. He couldn't help but feel remorseful for Cream's friends, or his abandonment of Lupe. He couldn't shake the terrible feeling that something was wrong in Knothole.

His eyes began to shut on their own as consciousness left him periodically. He could see Sonic's face and longed to hear his comforting voice once again, and he kept thinking to himself that maybe if things kept going the way, they had today; he just might.

Cream sat in the darkness alone and once she was sure Tails had fallen into slumber. She buried her face in her knees and hunched herself into a ball like position. Cream's arms quivered from both her sadness and the cold of being soaked for so long. She was in pain, and she could feel her heart being boiled in the bowls of her stomach. She wept as quietly as possible far into the twilight hours.

"I-I don't know if I can…. I'm sorry." She sobbed, calling quietly out to nobody in particular. If only she weren't so pathetic and weak. She thought, but the proof of her frailty was the blood of her friends that soaked her delicate hands.

For better or for worse this was the reality that Cream found herself in, and she wasn't sure she had what it took to make it through to the end.


	7. I'll Not Cry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this, I wrote it in complete insomnia fueled fervor. I didn't want to stop writing the chapter, so I just stayed up all night, finished it, read it, edited it, reread it, and published the 11000 words by 8 am.
> 
> Out of all my chapters, this one was the most significant surprise to me, as people really, really seemed to love it. When I wrote it, I just thought it would be an ordinary chapter, but it seems to be one of the favorites thus far for the people reading. (This and chapter 8, anyway.)
> 
> Hopefully, you will enjoy it too, as did the people of FF.net.

Max stood there, presentable and kempt as he had always been. That bright, comforting smile was always welcoming to her eyes. Annie stared at her friend, and he walked up to her until he was but inches from her.

"What's wrong Ann? You look sad." He said in a kind empathetic voice.

Annie nodded her head in answer to his question and took in the most in-depth breath she possibly could.

"Max… everything's come apart… You… My parents... Rotor..." She started shaking and tensing up from the overwhelming emotions.

"Just what have I caused. Why did I falter when you needed me most? I blamed your sister when I should have been blaming myself." She continued as the sadness took hold of her entire being, but she held back the cries of anguish with all of her might.

Max's face frowned hearing of her pain, and then he started to put his furred hand over his heart. His posture changed, and he looked like he was in intense physical pain.

"Ann… You need to help me..." Max said, and the look on his face turned to sorrow.

"H-help you?" She started to stammer watching his hand as it began to reach up to her.

"Help… me... Ann." His voice was distressed and in agony at this point.

"Max… I…" She started to say.

"You left me to die! You need to make up for what you've done!" His voice became loud as it raised in anger, cutting off her speech. His hand attempted to grasp her, but she quickly evaded it by jumping backward. "Max! Please! I tried!" She cried out.

"Annie…" His hand started to catch on fire, and it spread quickly down his arm and to his beautiful, regal clothes. He slowly sauntered forward; his body was burning as he went. His fur, flesh, and clothes were disintegrating with each step. His hand was outstretched in an attempt to grab onto her desperately.

"PLEASE! …" His agonizing cry echoed, and Annie moved back away from him in terror. No longer was he her cheerful, handsome, close friend, but a skeletal monstrosity. He slowed down as the fire started to put out, and his bones began to plink to the floor.

"She watched her friend melt away from the mortal coil, and as his skull hit the ground, it made a disgusting clank against the discarded bones.

"Ah!" Annie shouted, and the world around her became that of dimness. Her head shot up and started looking around. She was propped up against the side of her bed, and it took a few seconds to realize that she has fallen unconscious while sitting there on the floor.

Her eyes scanned the shadowy room. The sounds of a volatile destructive storm raging outside of her hut. She looked around the room and could see it was in disarray. Her books were thrown about, and stuff had cluttered on the floor. In her insomnia fueled rage she had destroyed her room.

Her knuckles were sore and ripped from continually punching the wood of her hut wall, and her arm was tender and stinging from her laser wound. It had been two days, and she hadn't even bothered to change out of the clothes she wore for the mission to Robotropolis.

She was dirty, bloodied, distraught, and exhausted. She couldn't sleep, she didn't care to eat, and she was drenched in cold sweat. She had lost all motivation to do anything but fester in her misery. She looked down at her dirty boots and listened to the thunder as it boomed from outside.

"What was it all for..." She choked out in disgust. The weather was worse than ever, Max was undoubtedly dead, and her parents with Rotor were MIA.

"You said it was supposed to STOP!" She angrily slammed her scraped knuckles onto her wooden floor, unconcerned with the damage she was doing to her body. The world was still a shithole, and trying to make it better made it darker than ever.

"Max, you... you fucking idiot!' She stood up in a huff and started to pace around her destroyed room weakly. He wanted to do this, and look what it cost them. Her parents were gone, Rotor was gone, and now she was truly alone.

Annie took in a deep breath feeling immediate sorrow for calling her dead friend an idiot. Her emotions were swinging wildly, and it was driving her to the brink of madness.

"Max... I... I'm sorry." She said to herself hoping that he couldn't hear that. She started to look out the window in an attempt to focus on something else rather than him. The sky was almost black at midday, and the rain was so heavy and thick that she wasn't even sure if Knothole wouldn't flood.

All looking out the window did was cause her to think about her parents gloomily. She was so worried about them, and now finally she understood why Max had been so damaged by losing his. It was one thing to know they were dead, but something else entirely to be left guessing for an eternity.

She started to pace once more, her despair and sorrow at their peak. She hated herself; she hated her life, she hated every single thing that had occurred. She wished she'd never been born. The rough and raw emotion was overriding her wellbeing and her stability.

In the two days, she hadn't even left her hut or moved. She didn't even know if Sonia was still alive, and felt that it would be better if she weren't also. How could she ever look Sonia in the face again? How could they continue with just themselves? A fifteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old running Knothole by themselves. It was a joke that had no punchline for Annie.

"Tails is dead! My parents are dead! Max is dead!" She gritted her teeth in anger and sorrow and cupped her hands over her face.

She wanted to cry.

To sob.

To bawl.

She couldn't… She wouldn't.

What use was it to cry? What purpose did it serve her? She threw her hands down in frustration and gazed around her wrecked room. Her eyes were starting to settle on the table by the window. There, sitting atop it was the answer to her inquiries.

She slowly started to walk towards the disheveled table, and she reached out for it. Once she had it nestled in her hand, she stared at it as intently as possible. It was the gun Tails had made for her; it was her gun. Her mind started to fantasize about it. The steel of the SWATBOT laser pistol felt cold against her fur.

She could see it the gun sliding into her mouth, and in seconds it would be over. There would be no more pain. Sonia could be vindicated, spit on her corpse, and be happy she ended her miserable, worthless existence. All she could think was the happiness it would bring to Sonia to blow a giant hole into her head.

Her muscles tensed, and she flicked the switch on the gun. The sound of it powering on echoed in the dark room. She stared at it still, and could just imagine seeing Max again and everybody else that died. For sure it was hopeless for her and all else that tried to defy Robotnik.

The darker her fantasies grew, and the more elated she became over her thoughts of death; the more frightened she was becoming. There was something inside of her that recognized irrationality, but in truth, did she even care about being rational any longer.

She rose the gun up and placed it to her temple. _Would this be quick enough_? She wondered and started to squeeze the trigger slightly. Her hand was shaking, and she quickly removed it from her head after not too long a time.

"Rrrr!" She roared in frustration. Was she too much of a coward to even blow her fucking head off? She couldn't run into the facility and save Max because she was a weak, pathetic failure. Now she couldn't merely end her suffering and by extension Sonia's sadness.

She breathed in deep and took the gun up close to her mouth. She was going to do it; she had to do it. She opened her mouth and slid the weapon into it, her thumb on the trigger.

" _Pull_ …"

BAM!

…

The gun made a loud banging noise, as it fell from her hand and slammed to the wooden floor.

"I'm pathetic..." Annie whined in exasperation. She was too afraid to do it, and the longer she contemplated it, the worse she was feeling.

She hastily sprinted out of her hut door and went into the violent storm; slamming it behind her. She gasped for air, and looked at the soaking, wet, miserable world she was left in. She needed to be out of her hut; she needed to be away from the gun. In the back of her mind, she still felt it was what she wanted to do, but her fear made it difficult.

She kept thinking about how scornful and angry her parents would be, but she couldn't control how she was feeling, even if she wished it could be different. She moved away from her hut and out into the rain.

All the huts were so empty and dark. Even Sonia's hut was eerily silent, and remorse for the things Annie had said only brought more pain. She moved around a bit trying to keep her mind off the misery, but it all did no good. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned into an hour.

It was no use. Nothing was making things better for Annie, but she was too frightened to go back to her hut. Her eyes settled on the dining hall, where they would all come together to laugh and eat. It was a source of warmth and joy for her, and before she knew it, she was walking instinctively towards it.

Maybe staying out of her messy, dark, depressing hut was what she needed to clear her mind. Deep down, she knew it would persist, but doing anything was better than doing nothing. Her hands pushed the doors, and they flew open quite quickly.

The torches outside were snuffed out by the rain, but oddly enough the inside was lit with fire and felt warm and inviting.

?

Annie looked around confused. Then froze when she saw Sonia peek her head out from the kitchen. Their eyes met, and Annie was too afraid and ashamed to move. They stared at each other, and it was clear to each other that neither of them were taking excellent care of their hygiene.

"A-Annie!" Sonia said in shock. She looked nervous but didn't try to flee or hide from her.

"I…" Annie tried to speak, but she struggled to find the right words to say to her.

Sonia gazed at the older girl and knew she was going through hell. It wasn't hard to see at all that both of them were grieving and suffering.

"H-hold on Annie wait right there," Sonia said to her and disappeared into the back room.

Annie stood there silent and confused but waited for the girl to return. When Sonia came back, she was carrying a plate of pancakes that in all honesty looked lopsided and horrible but smelled reasonably delicious. Especially to the ravenously hungry rabbit who was starving herself.

"What? You made some food?" Annie said as she slowly tried to put the pieces together.

"Well yeah, my… I mean." She stammered a little bit, and her voice cracked from a sudden influx of crying.

"Max always made you berry pancakes." Annie finished her attempted explanation, and Sonia nodded wiping her eyes with her free arm.

"I was hungrier than I had ever been in my life, and I haven't seen you in a while so I thought I'd make some food for us to eat and bring it to you after I ate." She slid the hotcakes on the table and sat down tiredly.

Annie was somewhat shocked by the act of generosity she was given from Sonia. Truthfully, she felt as if she didn't deserve it, but would probably feel worse if she didn't force herself to eat the food prepared for her.

Annie sat down and took one of the lopsided pancakes in her hand, not caring about cleanliness and took a bite. They may have looked odd, but they didn't taste half bad, even if it was the starvation talking she was thankful to have the food.

Sonia was slowly picking at her portion, and the two sat and filled their empty stomachs for the first time in a while. It was awkward for them to be sitting together, but at the same time, it brought Annie a great sense of relief that she hadn't felt in a while.

"Thanks... For the pancakes." She said to Sonia who looked up. It was clear she was surprised to hear a thank you, and she gave a sheepish smile.

"I was worried about ya." She admitted, and to think Annie thought that she was despised by her.

"Why?" Was all Annie asked. Like it was weird for her to be so concerned about her.

"Whattya mean why? I dunno I hadn't seen ya in a while, and I know It... well it has been hard for me." She admitted, and Annie could tell that she had done nothing but cry and beat up on herself this entire time.

"Sonia… Look." She started to speak but was abruptly cut off by Sonia.

"Please don't. I already know what it is about, and I've made my peace with it." Sonia declared and put her hands on the table. She looked like she was struggling to hold back her tears of sadness with every gesture.

"No... I was. Well, I was wrong to say that to you." Annie's heart was broken, and she felt intense remorse for the suffering she had a hand in.

"No Ann. You don't get it. You were right. It is my fault." Sonia said balling her hands into fists as tears leaked from her eyes.

"No Sonia..." Annie said but was silenced by the young girl's shout.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ANN!" The girl yelled her voice started breaking into silent sobs as her fingers un balled and grabbed onto the wood of the table.

"Y-you just need to shut up." She wheezed in deep breaths and angrily cried softly.

Annie said nothing and looked at the younger girl at her lowest point. She didn't protest or try to argue back; she just waited there in silence listening to the faint sniffles and the crying. After some time, Sonia wiped her eyes and spoke up once more.

"I hated your guts, for what you said to me. I hated you so much for the pain you put me through. I kept hearing your voice as I lied there and sobbed in my bed. I-I just." She stopped and cried a bit more and then shook her head to try and force herself to continue. "I wasn't ready for the truth. I just wanted to hate you for your harshness."

Annie quietly listened, and even though she was filled with volatile emotions, she refused to give in and succumb to tears herself.

"But," Sonia went on.

"As I kept thinking about it over and over. I realized you were right. When I was out there fighting the SWATBOT army and using the power ring. I was having fun, a lot of fun doing what I was doing." She paused for a minute and sucked in her snot and wiped her mouth.

"I… My brother needed me, and you were the only one there. I should have been there with you. I should have been serious, but I wasn't. It was all a fun game to me, and I felt powerful." She poured her heart out to the older girl and rested her hands on the table. She had mulled over these thoughts for two days straight, and it was the minute she realized that Annie was correct, that she became worried for her.

"Sonia, even if that is true, and you stayed with me. There is no guarantee that we would be able to get inside and get Max fast enough. I know your fast, but..." Annie tried to comfort Sonia, but Sonia just shook her head.

"I had the power ring. I could have busted through that door. I could have gotten through anything. I just know it, but instead, I choose to play with the SWATBOTS." It was clear that Sonia was trying to be mature about this, and Annie could sense the difference in the girl already. Her sharp wit and tongue had been blunted, and a fractured less confident Sonia was revealing herself.

Annie looked down at the table feeling sullen, and she didn't know what else to do or say now.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Sonia's voice said after a short silence.

Annie was hesitant to answer, but she knew why she was asking. She wanted to know what Annie had seen because she refused to believe her brother would die so easy.

"I… I stayed until the last minute of the countdown. I tried everything I could to get into the facility, but I couldn't do it on my own. He never showed up, even up to the 45-second mark, so I ran." Annie paused for a second and watched Sonia expression change to that of almost crying once again.

"I ran and ran until I almost collapsed, and then when I turned around the entire place exploded. It was so massive and destructive that I don't think anybody running on their legs could escape the radius in such a short time frame." Annie rubbed the back of her neck and looked at the wall.

"I waited for you for a few minutes, and when you didn't show up I, for some reason figured that maybe everyone made it back to the rendezvous point. I guess I was in denial, as I hoped against all the odds that Max was already there." She concluded her statement and felt terrible even recalling watching the building explode. It played over and over in her mind, and just the thought of Max burning to death brought her extreme discomfort.

Sonia sat there quietly for a minute choking back tears, and then she became defiant. "I… I have to believe he is still ok, just like I believe Bunnie, Antoine, and Rotor are ok. Max would never give up hope on me, so I refuse to give up on him."

Annie could sense the denial, but Sonia's proclamation did make her feel some semblance of hope. She still believed her eyes, but her heart might allow some leeway for her to hope. She believed in her parents also but always felt an emptiness in herself not knowing.

"Yeah…" Annie trailed off and took another pancake. She stuffed it into her mouth like a pig and continued dwelling on the dark aspects of their situation, even if she didn't want to.

Sonia ate another pancake slowly, and took a drink of water to clear her throat. "I love you, Annie." She said abruptly staring into her cup.

"What?" Annie immediately said, feeling embarrassed, but also elated. It was the last thing she expected to hear from her, Sonia of all people too.

"Yea… My brother loved you a lot, and I always used to think of you as my big sister." She admitted shyly. "I know you, and my bro always used to be together, but even when I was little, you guys let me tag along when you didn't have to." She took another quick drink, possibly to hide her embarrassment.

Annie stared blankly at her, and then looked down at the table staring intently at the various wood marks from the tree it used to belong to. After about a minute she smiled slightly and a small chuckle emitted from her mouth.

Sonia looked at her confused and placed her cup on the table. "What's so funny about that!" She said ready to get angry.

Annie laughed again and shook her head. "Like that time, I was nine, and Max tried to pretend to be a great hero. She laughed again recalling the memory, so strange that she was smiling, but she could see it so vividly.

Sonia thought for a second, and instantly she recalled the day. She was only seven years old at the time, but the visions were striking in her memory. She smiled slightly and looked into her glass again.

"I remember Max trying to save damsel Annie," Sonia said with a chuckle recalling her brother.

Annie chuckled also. "Yeah, we were playing, and he desperately wanted to be a hero, so I was pretending to be in trouble, and I wrapped myself in vines."

"Oh, help me brave Max." Annie imitated Max laughing slightly more.

Sonia smiled remembering what happened next. "Oh yeah, unfortunately when he came to rescue his damsel he was swallowed by the log beast."

The two laughed simultaneously. Remembering the young boy Max struggling because he got caught in a log he tried to crawl through and couldn't get out. The thought of him as he was trying to be a brave hero, but then getting upset when he got caught in an old log.

Annie rubbed her face and looked at Sonia. "That was the day I felt you were like my little sister. I remember having to try and pull Max out quickly with your help because we didn't want to get yelled at for being late for supper."

Sonia smiled at her words and just looked down again. It always hurt to think of her brother, but it never seemed to break the vivid pleasant memories she had of him.

'Thanks, Annie. I… You are all I have now." She said earnestly.

Annie leaned back in her chair, and just took another pancake. "At least until Max comes crawling back."

Sonia looked up and gave her a warm smile. She appreciated the kindness of Annie's words, even if she knew Annie didn't believe them in any capacity.

The two sat and ate and for a short while, and their sadness was lessoned for the first time in days. Annie was still full of anger and sadness, but for a little while, she could pretend not to be. The thought of going back to her hut still scared her, and she was filled with a deep shame that she could never really talk about.

"I… body…h…r" Their silence was interrupted by what sounded to be muffled shouting. Annie and Sonia looked up and stared at one another, and without a word, the two of them got up from the table and busted out of the hut door.

As soon as they were in the rain again, their eyes scanned the village rapidly looking for the source of the sound. Their eyes honed in on Rotor who was not too far in the distance. He was waving to them when they appeared, and the three of them wasted no time in running towards one another.

"Rotor!" The girls shouted.

"Guys!" Rotor shouted back, and when they finally met each other, they embraced tightly.

"Oh god, I was so worried about you two!" Rotor said as the girls hugged him from both sides.

"We missed you too!" Sonia shouted ecstatically.

"Where are mom and dad!" Annie roared with panic. She immediately noticed he was here on his own, and that caused her heart to sink.

"Whoa, Whoa. They are ok." Rotor said to Annie and took a look at both of the girls. He could see how dirty and miserable they looked, and knew they had been suffering this whole time.

"Hey, are you guys ok?" Rotor said in a concerned tone.

"Who cares about that? Where are mom and dad!" Annie demanded, and Sonia nodded.

"We've been worried sick; we deserved to know!" Sonia said somewhat angry about Rotor's late arrival.

Rotor sighed and understood that they needed to have a sense of closure. Rotor moved passed the girls and started to make his way towards the dining hut. "If I got to explain everything I at least want to be in the dry warmth for a bit."

Sonia and Annie looked at him and then at each other. They nodded figuring that they could hear him better inside and out of the rain than in this storm.

The three made their way inside of the hall and took their seats. It was indeed much clearer to hear inside than outside since the storm was so loud.

"Alright, guys. I know you have questions, but let me just give the story. Ok?" Rotor spoke up, and Sonia and Annie nodded. They were eager to hear what he had to say, and they felt some great relief in knowing they weren't the last two alive around here.

"Alright so, when we came out after planting the explosive. We were overrun by an immense amount of SWATBOTS. We tried to make it out of the city to reach the rendezvous point, but Antoine was injured. We ended up taking the sewer system under the city to escape the blast radius, but with Antoine bleeding so badly, we knew we wouldn't make it that far."

Annie looked horrified, and Sonia looked angry, but Rotor continued before they could go into a full panic and interrupt him repeatedly.

"We ended up navigating the sewer system for a while until we decided to go above ground; once we did that, we sought out uncle Chuck who allowed us to hide and stabilize Antoine by stopping his bleeding. We couldn't get out or return because Robotropolis is just overrun by SWATBOTS, and your father is in no condition to move." He put his soaked hat on the table and stole a pancake to stuff in his mouth.

"So, what are you doing here then?" Annie asked him, she was apprehensive about her dad, but there was this enormous pressure lifted off of her knowing that they still lived.

"Well… the… thing about… that" Rotor said while chewing, and then swallowed the pancake to finish speaking. "Is that your parents were out of their mind worried about you, they wanted to send messenger birds, but with the excess amount of activity, uncle Chuck advised against it. Once the SWATBOTS started clearing up, I volunteered to go." He stuck another pancake in his mouth and chewed it while he was not talking.

"What about everyone else?' Sonia asked him concerned still for Bunnie and Antoine.

"Well, I am here to pick up medicine and supplies to take back, so we can treat Antoine better and then move him. Uncle Chuck always gives medicine he finds to us because he is a robot and has no need for it." Rotor took in a deep breath. It sure felt good to have something in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything in a while.

"Once I get medicine, a bit of food, and check up on you three I will be heading back to report and help Antoine. Then I'll probably come back to Knothole by nightfall, so you guys aren't alone." He looked around, and it was starting to dawn on him that Max hadn't been around this entire time.

"Hey, uhm..." Rotor started to speak up, but Sonia started talking over him.

"What is with the weather you said the mission would stop it, so why is everything still bad!" Sonia was slightly indignant after everything that had happened, and even though Annie foresaw the question Rotor was going to ask, she was interested in hearing why the world was still imploding on itself.

Rotor nodded and leaned back in his chair for a second thinking about how to respond to the younger girl. "Robotnik pumped a lot of heat and garbage into the atmosphere for a long time. I guess you could say this is the planet's way of getting rid of its sickness so to speak. It will be horrible, and then over time it will steadily return to normal." He explained to the best of his ability.

Sonia and Annie looked at him after his explanation and just nodded. There was nothing anybody could say or do, but it was good to know that it would go back to average days after a short while. It did give them a higher degree of hope than they had just hours before.

Rotor stood up and put his hat back on and started turning to the door. "Where's Max? I need to make sure he is doing ok before I gather everything and leave."

Annie and Sonia looked depressed, and their gaze averted almost instantly. Neither one wanted to tell him the truth, but in just their short wordless gestures they explained everything he needed to know.

"So…" He said trailing off somewhat. His face had a perplexed look on it, and then slowly the grief started to hit him. "I… see…" He rubbed his hands sadly, and could barely find the words to say next.

It was evident he was not expecting this, and out of all of them, Max was the one who talked to him the most. It was hitting him hard, but he never the less maintained most of his composure. "Well if that is how it is... Then I should probably just gather everything and report back."

Annie started to walk up to him, and all he did was shake his head. "No, you can't come. It is still dangerous, and I need people here to make sure Knothole stays secure."

Annie just looked at the floor. She wanted to see her parents so badly, but understood now was not the time to force her way into going.

"Please… tell my mom and dad I love them." Annie requested, and stepped back away from Rotor to give him room to leave.

He nodded giving her a thumbs up and turned around. His mind preoccupied with the devastating news. He felt awful but knew once Bunnie heard about this she was going to have a complete and utter meltdown. He disappeared from the hall to head to the storage so he could gather the things he needed.

Sonia gave Annie a small smile and spontaneously hugged her, catching the older girl off guard.

"They're ok!" Sonia said crying tears of joy.

Annie embraced Sonia back, and she felt such a great relief wash over her. She was scared of losing her parents, and now at the very least, she knew she had not lost them to Robotnik. Sonia broke the hug and rubbed her hands together.

"Well everything is turnin back to normal" She tried to stay on the bright side.

Annie, on the other hand, was feeling immensely guilty, she knew that Sonia had nothing and nobody now, and it was apparent that Sonia was dying inside.

"Yeah, let's hope it keeps getting better and better," Annie said. The two of them started to walk out of the dining hall, and they could see Rotor had quickly thrown a bunch of supplies into a sack and was getting ready to move out already. He was in an incredible rush and barely had the time to talk to them or take his time gathering supplies. He just threw it all into a sack and was ready to be on his way.

Annie and Sonia moved out towards him and wanted to give him one last heartfelt goodbye.

"Please be careful." They cautioned him, as he nodded back to them trying to keep his steady fast pace.

"You guys should get cleaned up; you don't want Bunnie and Antoine seeing you like that." He turned his head to look at Annie. "Keep that wound clean, Bunnie is gonna want to check it out when she returns."

They both nodded, and Annie felt her tender arm that she had neglected all of this time. It was evident to Rotor that they were going through hell without them there and with Max gone. He wanted them to feel better and return to normal as quickly as possible.

"I'll see you guys by tonight, alright?" Rotor stated.

"Alright!" They said as confidently as possible, but in truth, him leaving them alone again terrified them.

With that, all said and done the girls stopped following his brisk pace and Rotor walked off towards Robotropolis alone. The two girls stood there watched him until he had disappeared into the woods.

"I guess we should clean up," Sonia said feeling somewhat embarrassed by her lack of hygiene.

"Yeah," Annie replied staring at her dark, sinister hut sitting across the way. It filled her with a deep sense of dread to even think about going in there. After what she'd done and what she tried to do, she was afraid the temptation might take hold of her again.

"Hey, Sonia?" Annie asked.

"Hm?" Sonia looked at her.

"Do you think you could let me use your bathtub to get clean. I just…" She started to try to think up and excuse, but Sonia just nodded.

"Sure, just head on in my hut. I'll run and get you some clean clothes." She said.

Annie was terrified to let her go into her hut but figured Sonia going in was much better than her going in herself. "Sure, I will run a bath… Thank you." She wasn't sure what else to say to Sonia, so she just thanked her for her kindness.

"No prob, just take your time. I do everything super quick, so it is not like it gets in my way." She started to run off towards Annie's hut.

Annie made her way into Sonia's hut, and it was somewhat messy, but then again it was always dirty. She moved into her bathroom and started to draw a bath. Her mind drifting to the positive and then the negative. It kept oscillating but inevitably settled on sadness. She threw her clothes off and let them lie on the floor in a dirty pile.

Once she was naked, she started to undo her bandage. It hurt quite a bit to yank off, but once removed she could see how dirty it had become. She moved over to the mirror and looked at it by pushing some of the bloodied matted furs aside. She could see the red on her skin, and the wound was weeping. She had not taken good care of herself at all, and it showed incredibly well in the mirror.

Her once lovely fur was disgusting and dirty, and she felt horrible looking at herself. She could hear Sonia come in, and then she turned around to see her placing nice clean clothes on the bathroom floor. Sonia stared at the older girl, and she couldn't believe how terrible she looked. She felt awful for her, especially that wound on her arm.

"Here ya go. I have to say it wasn't easy to find clean clothes in there." Sonia said to her.

Annie froze in place, and she became incredibly afraid of what she was going to say about her room. Images of the gun she left on the floor kept flashing into her mind, and she was terrified that Sonia would know what she had done just by seeing it there.

"Your room was a mess," Sonia commented on the destruction of Annie's hut, but in truth, she knew Annie could have a temper, and that it was probably her way of venting.

Annie nodded feeling slight relief that was all that Sonia commented on. "Thanks, Sonia." She said honestly and turned the pouring water off.

Sonia nodded and turned away. "Enjoy your bath." She said shutting the door behind herself. Annie put her body into the hot water, and in all honesty, it felt excellent on her body. The heat was relaxing her muscles, and as she lied back to sink into the tub, she could feel the sting of her wound being submerged.

She stared at the ceiling quietly listening to the storm pound on it. Her mind preoccupied with what happened in her hut. To think she could have possibly done that, and then what? Her parents were alive, and Sonia didn't hate her. She felt so remorseful, but in truth, she had been having feelings like that since she had become a teenager. She had always been able to suppress the hatred for herself and the sadness, but after what happened it seemed to put her in a place she had never been before.

She always felt like the world would have more peace in it if she were gone, but she still ended up feeling like a guilty piece of shit for wanting to end her existence. She never had any reason to whine or cry, and never wanted to compare her fake sadness to those with real sorrow like Max. Why did she have to be this way, it was as if she was destined to be sad for no reason, and just being sad was what made her feel selfish.

She shut her eyes and dunked her head under the water to completely submerge herself. After she was thoroughly wet from head to toe, she sat up and started lathering her body with soap. She wanted normalcy, but everything she felt and everything she was attested to a broken, sad girl.

She rinsed herself off with water, and she could feel the sadness welling up in her; an explosion of tears were screaming to get out of her eyes, but still, she held them back.

" _Nothing can fix me_." She thought and stood up from the bath. She looked down at the darkened, dirty, disgusting water she left behind inside of the tub.

" _If only I could wash the dirty rotten parts of me away so easily._ " She berated herself in her head feeling anger replace the sadness, though she preferred it that way, to be honest.

She got out of the tub while pulling the drain stop and started to use a towel to dry off. She looked at her now pristine form in the mirror, and she was amazed by how clean she looked and how much better she felt physically. She picked up her clothes and started to dress into the jeans and short sleeve shirt that Sonia fetched from her living quarters.

Her arm still looked sore, and it smelled slightly bad despite the soap cleansing. She reached into the box in Sonia's bathroom where medicines were stored in each hut and started to wrap the wound up with clean bandages.

"I hope it'll be ok." She said to herself and turned to walk out to the central part of the hut. She could see Sonia getting up and walking towards the bathroom for her bath.

"All yours," Annie said stepping aside and letting her in.

"Thanks, I'll be quick," Sonia said and slammed the door on her way into the bathroom.

Annie could hear the tub run, and she moved over to the window to look out at the storm, and then to her hut. She didn't want to be alone because every time she was the horrible thoughts started to come to her. What was wrong with her? She didn't know, but she was sure of one thing. She was going to ask to stay in Sonia's hut for the rest of the night.

The storm raged on violently with the dark clouds signifying a terrible disaster that could very well destroy huge chunks of the forest land. Tails watched as the stream he once followed was now overflowing and soaking his boots. Many trees had been uprooted and lay on their side due to the winds. It was not safe to travel and despite that Tails choose to press on.

Cream was following him frightenedly and question if it was a good idea to be going to his home in such a disaster. Her backpack and bag were soaked as was her dress and fur, but she continued on despite her doubts. Mostly because she feared if Tails left without her she would succumb to a violent death.

In his arm Tails was carrying the thick metal robot box that was attached to the assailant from yesterday. In the box was the destroyed helmet contraption as well as pieces of the various weapons they were using. It was heavily damaged, and much of it was no nonfunctional but tails collected it regardless. His destroyed utility belt was haphazardly wrapped around his waist since the strap was cut through.

"Uhm. M- Mr. Tails do you think it is necessary to carry all of that? Especially since you have not fully recovered." She asked from a place of genuine concern and uncertainty.

Tails sloshed through the water while thunder boomed overhead, and he slowed down to walk next to her. He could tell she was scared and it was evident that she was new to all of this. He had many questions to ask her, but never wanted to come across as callous and unsympathetic to somebody so polite and sweet.

"It is necessary because while it may not seem like it. Those robots are something new, and they have proven to be exceedingly dangerous. I still don't quite get their purpose, or what they intended to do with you or me, or why they just eradicate some animals but capture the rest." He stopped and thought for a second before he continued.

"Time was years ago old clunky SWATBOT models would capture everything in sight and take them for mass roboticization." He concluded in his explanation to the rabbit.

Cream blinked as the rain fell off her ears. She hopped over a downed tree and kept the pace up with Tails. It was strange how just being with somebody who understood this world of madness made her feel safer than she did with her own group. They had only met, and she already trusted Tails, though in many circumstances her naivety would be her death; she was willing to take a chance with him than to be alone in this twisting maze of a forest by herself.

Tails looked at her bruised face and the cut above her eyes, and kept thinking back to that moment she tried to save her dog friend. They could have quickly shot her, but they didn't, and he didn't understand why. He was staring so intently and eyeing her that Cream took notice.

"Uhm... Pardon me Mr. Tails, but uhm…" She blushed out of shyness and averted her gaze. "What exactly are you looking at?" She finally said.

He stopped staring and became embarrassed himself. It was kind of a rude thing to do, but the reality is he was not used to having somebody that looked about or around his age with him. He was inspecting her as if she were some scientific experiment that needed solving.

"Ah, f-forgive me. I just was wondering about you was all. I have been a Freedom Fighter for a long time, and never have I heard about this village you live in." He said to her.

"Oh, well uhm. That is because we grow our own food and have our own internal commerce. Even though we know the animals are at war with Robotnik, most of the citizens pretend that nothing is going on and choose to live life as if the great city had just moved." She said.

"Great city? You mean Mobotropolis?" Tails said as he was getting into the information she was giving him.

"Y-Yes I believe that was the name. Anyway, every so often a group or faction of animals that believe it is wrong to sit idly by and do nothing starts raising their voice about it. The established leader of our village then decides whether or not to approve of the support of more Freedom Fighter factions." She went on with her explanation.

"So, you basically only come out every so often to establish ties with a Freedom Fighter group and create a mutual benefit for both parties?" Tails summarized her explanation.

Cream nodded. "That is correct. The approval process takes a long time as the central leader talks it out with other district leaders, and then once an agreement is made. They approve of the expedition and give those requesting it a map cube so that they can send the coordinates back to home and establish safe trade routes." She took a breath and looked at Tails.

Tails found this system interesting, but it still didn't explain why he had never heard of it before. Especially seeing as members of the Mobian royal family were in his village and commanding many other Freedom Fighting groups.

"I see, but why have I never heard of this?" He questioned her, and it came off as doubting scrutiny.

Cream looked away sensing his distrust, but she just responded to him in her same polite manner. "We… well a lot of us are not suited for combat, and that makes the journey extraordinarily dangerous to make. Many of us never stumble onto a Freedom Fighter faction and are killed with no results. Those that do manage to find one end up getting killed before they can return home. A lot of the Freedom Fighter groups that we established trade with have been destroyed." She said.

"So that is why you guys were out here. You cared that much about the Freedom Fighters and your village's continued existence that you risked your lives to find us." Tails said. He admittedly was touched by the pure heart of her group, but after seeing what had happened to them. He wasn't sure if it was wise of them even to try, as the scarcity of Freedom Fighting groups was becoming more prevalent. It would be difficult to succeed in this mission, and it was pretty much blind luck he ran into them.

Cream was surprised by his kind words and became embarrassed, but it was primarily the truth. "I care a lot for everybody, and even though the number of animals wishing to be involved outside of the village has dwindled. I still felt it was my duty to go and help those that needed it." In her words was a pure selflessness that Tails was not used to, and even though you could call her foolish, she was undoubtedly brave to come out here alone with only four other animals.

Tails kept walking, and for a little bit, he hesitated to say anything. Cream seemed preoccupied with her thoughts, and he was always nervous about prying deeper. Eventually, he just resigned himself and asked the burning question on his mind.

"Cream… Who exactly was everyone back there?" He came out and said it, though it might reopen her fresh wounds and cause her distress.

"Oh…" Cream was a bit nervous to talk about them, but in truth, she always knew the question would come up. She looked up as a flash of thunder pierced the holes in the trees above her head and decided it would be rude not to answer his inquiry.

"We were the group of animals who thought that it was selfish to continue living in ignorance of, the greater problem. Sammy the pig, was a chef who owned a restaurant in our village. He was always kind and loving, and he desired to make a difference in the world. Severa, the raven, was the same way, she was fluent in different languages and cultures and worked at our library." She started giving bits of character history to Tails.

"Wait you have restaurants and libraries?" He said in a disbelieving tone.

Cream nodded. "Yes, I was not lying when I said that our village is similar to the gr- I mean Mobotropolis. It may not be so fancy, but it offers many pleasantries the forest does not. We even have our own form of currency." She reached out and showed him an etched stamp on some useless rounded bronze metal. It might not have been gold, but it was proof she was telling him the truth on the matter.

Tails took the coin and examined it while walking. "Radcliff village?"

"Yes, the name of our village founder Sir. Radcliff. He was a knight in service to King Maximillian Acorn during the coup and decided that it was better to hide his family and loved ones from harm than go out and die. He established the village, and over the years people joined, and the population grew. Now we don't even allow entries from outsiders unless they can demonstrate their usefulness to the village." She explained the history of her home, and Tails could see she was knowledgeable and well educated. He didn't doubt such a place contained some education system as well.

It made him feel jealous that all the Freedom Fighters were out here slumming it while other animals were living in relative normalcy. He was upset and angry about it but decided to let that rest for a later time.

"Red, the canine that I-I tried to save. He, well he was uhm." She started to speak, and it seemed hard for her, but she eventually pushed through to what she wanted to say. "He used to be a Knight before the Coup too. He was a kind, honorable, and loving dog who sacrificed a lot for the village and for me." She admitted.

"In his old age he was becoming forgetful, and his combat training left him years ago. He was capable of fixing certain things from before the coup because he had been around that long, but many times he forgot how to use them or what they were exactly for." She looked ahead feeling sad and decided to change the subject before it got too painful.

"Diana the bat was actually the sister of our central leader Sarah. The two of them always had different opinions on whether or not it was wise to traverse outside of the village, but they were very close. I- well Sarah didn't seem to want her sister to go, but Diana refused to give up on her ideals." Cream finished her summation of everybody.

Tails thought about everybody that day. The raven was gone, and it was uncertain if she was still alive. Everybody else was dead, and Tails now understood why the bat was dressed so gaudily. She was undoubtedly wealthy and influential in the society she came from, and for her to risk her life came across to him as commendable.

"You didn't tell me about everyone." Tails looked at her and gave her a small smile.

She looked at him and then to the wet soaking ground. "There isn't much to tell. I uhm. I am an orphan, and over the years I have read many books on medicine and animal anatomy. I was being trained by doctors for a few years before I set off to search for Freedom Fighters. I am not a doctor… However, I guess you could say I am an advanced apprentice."

He looked at her and could sense the great hesitation in her tone and speech. She did not want to talk about herself, and Tails was not about to force the issue. He just smiled at her and let her keep her silence if she had to. He marched onwards, and finally, he reached a giant overflowing lake in the middle of the forest.

"This is it!" Tails got excited and looked at Cream.

"What is it Mr. Tails?" She said.

"It is the lake of rings. It signifies that Knothole village is close by. We only have a little way to go." He responded to her.

Cream smiled at him and was thankful for his help. Admittedly she was excited to see his safe village and meet the other people in his group. Perhaps get out of the rain and have some food. She felt terrible for the loss of life and suffering that had occurred in her team but had solace in knowing she might succeed in her greater mission of helping her home.

The two of them picked up their pace despite the heavy bags and equipment. The sooner they got there, the sooner that help could be delivered to the Freedom Fighters of Knothole village.

Annie sat in Sonia's hut quietly. It had been hours, and the light started fading from the world, and it made the dark, depressing atmosphere even more gloomy than it had been all day. The room was lit by a little electric lamp on the table, and Annie couldn't help but feel a slight comfort sitting next to its brightness.

She gazed along the bed and looked at Sonia lying there on top of it. The girl just wanted to rest her eyes after a nice warm bath but ended up passing out from exhaustion. Perhaps Annie's presence brought her enough comfort to find some rest finally, but Annie herself was still an emotional wreck. She at least had the luxury of Sonia's hut, but it didn't stop her worrying at all.

She looked out the window like she had for the past few hours. She felt numb and seemed to be holding out for the hope that Sonia instilled in her earlier. She waited and watched for Rotor or her Parents… or…

Her eyes caught something in the distance, though she could barely make it out in the rainy storm. She stood up and pressed her nose against the glass trying to determine who it was.

"Max...?" She whispered to herself. Her heart started to beat frantically. She turned and quickly made her way out of Sonia's door, not even thinking to wake her up.

"Max…!" She said to herself in the falling rain, and her chest felt as if it were about to burst. She ran as fast as her bare feet could carry her and finally when she skidded to a halt she was in front of the tall figure.

"Ann?" She could see and hear the fox speaking to her, and even though she felt crushed it was not who she thought it was. She spontaneously grabbed hold of him and hugged him regardless.

"Tails!" She cried out, and he grabbed the young girl and hugged her close to his wet chest fluff.

"Ann!" He cried back.

She couldn't believe it. He had never even entered her mind, and now here he was, safe and well. It might not have been Max, but it indeed was somebody she wanted to be safe and sound.

"Ann... What is going on here. Where is everybody?" He asked nervously.

Annie wasn't even sure how to begin telling him, but before she could even start, she heard a voice calling from one of the huts.

"Um E-excuse me Mr. Tails, but I put all of the things in your hut, and I..." She stopped as soon as she noticed the young girl, and started to stare at her. Why was somebody so young part of a warfare group? Her eyes settled on Annie's bandaged arm.

"W-what is going on here?" Cream asked hesitantly.

Tails looked at her and then to Annie. "I really don't know. Nobody is here like they should be, and Annie seems hurt."

"I-I am fine… really." Annie tried to protest, but Cream came over to the young girl and grabbed her by the hand gently.

"Come inside. I will take a look at it for you." Cream said as sweet as she possibly could. Annie looked at Tails as if to say " _who is this person."_ And he just responded with a pat on her shoulder.

"C'mon let's get you inside, and you can explain everything." Tails was reassuring to her, and she allowed Cream to guide her inside of Tails' hut.

It was messy inside, and there were technological parts and junk piled everywhere but the bed. Annie sat on the side of his bed and let her legs dangle over it. Cream brought over her brown bag and proceeded to unravel the wet bandage gently and slowly.

Tails moved next to them so he could watch, and Annie looked pretty scared of the strange rabbit trying to mess with her painful wound.

Cream smiled at Annie, and she talked in a calm, sweet voice. "Don't worry sweetheart you will be just fine. You don't have to worry about anything. I am just making sure you aren't severely hurt."

Annie looked at her festering arm and became frightened when the rabbit took off her dirty, messy gloves and put on some clean latex ones stored in the bag. She could see the rabbit probing and examining the wound and Tails came over to try and take her mind off of it.

"What happened Annie? I need to know. I heard that something big might be happening in Robotropolis." He said while taking a seat next to her, but he was careful not to interrupt Cream while she worked.

"Ah!" Annie cried out feeling searing pain shoot up her arm, and her attention was turned to Cream.

"What are you doing?" Annie asked indignantly, but it was apparent she was terrified of what was going on.

Cream just gave her a sweet smile once again and stood up. "Please forgive me, Miss Annie. I didn't mean to cause you discomfort." She turned and started pulling more things out of the bag, and Annie began swaying her feet nervously.

She reluctantly started speaking to Cream out of fear. "I- well. Am I going to be ok?" She knew she had not taken care of herself, and among all her other worries was the one about her laser inflicted wound.

Cream smiled at her and started wetting gauze with a transparent substance. "You will be A-Okay sweetheart. There is a minor infection, but I am going to take care of that and clean it. Then I will redress the wound, and you should be right as rain." She bent down and started applying pressure to Annie's arm. It burned a little bit and hurt badly with force applied, but she became more relaxed around the sweetly natured rabbit.

"This'll take a little while, so don't mind me." Cream said while working gently and slowly.

Annie looked at Tails who gave her a comforting smile, and she just kept her gaze on him in an attempt to take her mind off the discomfort she was feeling. She watched as Tails stood up in front of her, and she began to speak to him.

"It was awful…" Annie started explaining the entire story from beginning to end. The cannon, Robotnik, her parents, the mission, Max. It was so much information that by the time she had wrapped up to the present-day Cream had been finished her treatment for over ten minutes.

Tails looked like he was beside himself. He couldn't believe any of it, especially that of what happened to Max. That was Sonic's son, and to know that he himself was supposed to be there and that Max was acting in his place only filled him with disgust and rage.

Cream was listening to the story as well, and couldn't believe the numerous atrocities she was hearing. It was now that she realized that her village was not safe at all and that no amount of hiding could save them from a grisly fate. She couldn't believe the children that were not even adults were throwing their lives away to stop Robotnik.

Annie sat there and rubbed her clean bandage because it was really sore and tender. She looked at Cream who put on a smile no matter how she might be feeling on the inside.

"How do you feel sweetheart?" She asked the fifteen-year-old.

"I… it stings a little," Annie admitted.

Cream shook her head and responded. "That is normal, just remember to keep changing your bandages to clean ones every day." She looked down and then back up to Annie once more. "However, that wasn't what I meant. I mean how are you feeling emotionally?"

The question caused her to feel a lot more pain than the wound or the treatment. Annie became hesitant and started to fidget slightly. She turned her head to Tails, and he just looked to Cream.

"Mr. Tails? Do you mind if I talk to miss Annie alone for a second? That is if she is willing to." Cream looked back at Annie.

Tails nodded. In fact, after hearing that bombshell of events he needed a few minutes by himself.

Annie sat frozen and watched as Tails left the hut to go outside, and she was too scared to say no. Cream bent over so that she was in front of Annie, and put her hands on her dirty, ripped up dress.

"My name is Cream Rabbit. It is a pleasure to meet you." She chirped taking off her latex gloves and placing them on the floor.

"W-what do you want to talk about?" Annie said defensively and rudely. Cream's inquiry had opened her emotional wounds, and she didn't know how to react.

"Nothing. I just figured you wanted to talk?" Cream said sweetly and looked at the girl.

"Wh-why would I want to talk to you!" Annie said once more feeling anger well up inside of her. Just who did this rabbit think she was? Coming here randomly and running her mouth.

Cream looked into Annie's eyes and could see the desperate fear in her. She just sat in front of her and spoke gently. "Because I am here to listen."

Annie had had enough of these games and started to tense up and her hands balled into fists revealing the scratches and cuts on her knuckles. "Fuck you…"

She insulted Cream outright and felt herself losing control. She hated the pain she was feeling, so why did this rabbit want to scrape the wounds.

Cream just continued to smile at her. "It must be painful holding all of that in." She said gently.

Annie could feel herself losing it. The anger turned to guilt, and the guilt turned to shame, and the shame turned to sadness. She was shaking and once again confronted with the tears banging at her eyes. She held them back and looked away from Cream.

"I…I. just... want." She struggled to talk, as she choked back her tears between each word.

Cream sweetly placed a hand on her shaking shoulder and spoke in a calm voice once again. "You want to?"

Cream's touch made her body turn to rubber, and the trembling of inward sobs were breaking the surface. Her eyes started leaking tears, but she quickly tried to wipe them away, to hide them from the rabbit. "I… want… to… stop… hurting..." She choked out and struggled with every fiber of her being to keep the tears at bay.

Cream gently rubbed the girl's back and moved her head forward so that she could be heard clearly. "My mom used to say that the best way to wash away sorrows was to flood them out with tears." She said to Annie in a quiet, sympathetic tone.

Annie choked as images of her own mother came into her mind, and then images of her dad, and then images of Max. Her trembling worsened more so than before, and her chokes became louder than ever. She started to squeal and whine, and abruptly grabbed onto the fabric of Cream's dress so hard it was like she was holding onto a cliff for dear life.

Annie's world melted, and her tears started to flow down her furred cheeks while she cried out loudly. Her body uncontrollably trembled and the pain in her heartfelt unbearable. She pulled herself into Cream's chest and sobbed loudly into the dress. Her wails of anguish muffled by the fabric.

Cream placed her arms on the girl and rubbed her back to give her support and comfort. The months, the days, the years of keeping the misery locked away within her were bursting out in one torrent of unstoppable crying. It went on like that for so long that Tails looked through the window, and when he saw Annie crying. He knew it best to stay away from the private moment.

Annie's sobs and chokes became lessened as she cried the torment out of her body. Cream reached over to hand her a few tissues, and Annie grabbed them to wipe her runny nose. Annie felt weak and as if she were in another dimension; her body felt drained and exhausted from the intense release of emotions.

Cream moved away and stood up while resting a hand on Annie's shoulder. Annie just grabbed onto her hand and sniffled.

"I. I'm sorry." She quivered. She was feeling ashamed for not only saying mean things to her but for even crying in general.

Cream moved away from her and smiled. "You don't need to be sorry. I just want you to feel better that is all."

Annie stood up onto her feet woozily, and her body felt empty. All of the emotions were still there, but they felt several degrees lighter than they had before. She had tried so hard to pretend she was normal and to pretend she wasn't sad that it had decayed within the reaches of her soul for a long time.

Cream sat on Tails' bed and started putting her tools back into her bag.

"If you need anything while I am here, just please come see me." The rabbit bowed her head politely, and Annie felt as if things might actually turn out ok for once.

Annie nodded and stumbled herself out of the door. Her eyes were sore, as was her nose and throat from crying so hard. When, she exited she could see Tails waiting out in the rain, and walked past him quietly.

"Everything ok?" He asked her vaguely so that she would not know he had seen her sobbing.

"F-fine." She said and kept walking. She felt exhausted, and all she wanted to do was go back to Sonia's hut.

Tails nodded and watched her walk off into the darkness towards Sonia's lit hut, and when he saw her safely enter. He turned and walked back into his own hut to converse with Cream about Annie.

Annie walked in and shut the door behind herself. Sonia was still lying sound asleep on the bed completely unaware of anything that had just occurred. She reached her hand up and turned off the electric light; once it was out, it shrouded the room in complete darkness.

Annie placed herself on the floor and started to stare up at the hut ceiling as she had in the bath. The sound of the storm pounding against it. She stared for the longest time, and then she started to fade in and out of consciousness. Her body felt some semblance of relief, and the sobbing had tired her out immensely. She shut her eyes and let out a quiet sigh; maybe now she could finally sleep undisturbed.

" _Perhaps there is a way to flush the bad things out of me. Who would have thought it would be the one thing I avoided doing?"_ She thought to herself as her mind started to go blank and sleep finally claimed her.


	8. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is without question my favorite chapter. I love how it makes me feel to read it; I loved editing it, I loved writing it. It is great, and my readers also seem to like it as much as I do.

The world was silent save for the slight sounds of dripping water splashing onto a liquid surface. The area was void of any sense of light, and the darkness was never ending and absolute. Max lay chest down with the side of his face partially submerged in an elevated puddle of indistinguishable liquid, it was almost high enough to reach his mouth. He was coming out of a deeply unconscious state, but his sense of sight was lost on him even after he opened his eyes, it was so dark where he was at.

Things started to enter into his mind slowly, and he was greeted with an unstoppable agony that couldn't be described in words. His body felt as if it had been trampled by a thousand SWOTBOTS and his arms were unmovable. His chest felt crushed, and even breathing caused him severe pain. He tried to move his head, but it only resulted in more anxiety and panic. What was going on? Where was he? Was he blind? So many questions begged for answers, but all that called out to him was the dribbling sound of water dripping into water.

He lay still in the thick puddle and half of his face fur was soaking up a foul-smelling liquid; he desired to get up, but it felt impossible right now. His body was hurt so badly he wasn't sure he could find the energy to move it. He continued to stay in place trying to put the pieces somehow together, but he was in a blind daze.

"R-rr." Max struggled as he attempted to move his arms, and try as he might his lower left arm would not obey his commands, but his right arm was able to move weakly in the way he desired. Slowly and steadily he placed his right hand into the liquid which submerged it entirely, and he started to lean his weight on it so that he could try to push himself upwards.

After he felt reasonably stable on his right arm, he then tried to haphazardly move his left arm to support more of his weight, as he was not sure his right one could do the entire job of lifting his hurt body on its own.

"Ah..ah AHHHHHH!" He screeched out in torment the second he tried to put any weight on his left arm. The sound of his agony echoed all throughout the darkness and Max fell face down in the disgusting puddle. His chest hurt so badly from the sudden fall that he rolled onto his side trying to get the throbbing to stop. His left arm was radiating with agony, and he would dare not try that again.

"Oh god... it-it hurts." He cried out into the nothingness, his voice cracking. He was in such physical destress that he started to cry lightly.

"Ah... can't give… up." He said in between deep breaths, each breath causing severe pain to his chest region. Again, he started to push himself up with his right arm, and completely neglected the left. When he got far enough upwards, he pushed back so that he fell on his butt with a splash.

"Oof." He made a noise but was thankful to be in a sitting position at this point. His pants were soaked through, but he could care less about the unidentified filth. He couldn't see anything at all and judging from the pain he was in it was apparent to him that he was not ok.

He started using his right hand to feel around his royal coat and then to feel parts of his body. He was hesitant to touch his left arm out of incredible fear for what he might discover. He looked around the darkness, and it was now hitting him that he had no idea what nightmarish hell this place even was. He was sure he was still living, but he was not so sure if that was a good thing right now.

Max braced himself mentally and started feeling his left arm gently and carefully. He could feel the liquid from before, but he could also feel a lump on his arm that sent agony coursing through him.

"RRRahhh!" He cried out and removed his hand quickly. He had no way to see the injury, and he couldn't tell if it was dislocated or broken.

"Oh..." He said lightly under his breath entering a realm of shock. He was becoming more and more concerned with his defenselessness and started to move his head around rapidly. The sounds of leaking water and the occasional echo of scratching metal sent horrible feelings through his body.

He sat still, afraid to move and afraid to make a sound. The world around him was black, and he would give anything to have some semblance of nocturnal vision left in his eyes. His heart raced, but as the blood was pumping through his body, he felt more physical distress.

Max was still coming down from the shock, but the unfortunate circumstances he now found himself in caused his body to enter fight or flight mode. He was sweating, and his adrenalin was numbing some of the agonies he was in. He was fearful and starting to panic, but without the ability to see anything at all he could do little about it. He held onto his aching chest with his right hand and called out the only thing he could think of during the height of his emotions.

"NICOLE!" He yelled to the point of hurting his chest, and let his voice carry out into the darkness echoing back as it went. He was holding his chest and rubbed it while trying to breathe, but he was finding it difficult. He wasn't sure what was around him, but whatever possibly lurked in this hellish abyss was most likely coming for him now.

He looked around at the endless darkness and braced himself for the slaughter. He shut his eyes for a minute and tried to get his breathing corrected so that it would be less intrusive and painful. He knew he was freaking out, but surely, if something lived down here in the depths, it would have come for him while he was unconscious.

He tried to reason with himself, and even if fear was winning it brought him to a point where he could again open his eyes and try to think of a way out of this mess.

"Hm?" Max could now see a faint white light illumining the endless sea of shadows.

"N-Nicole." He had never been happier to see her screen in his life. He pushed himself up, his adrenalin carrying him through the agony. He held his chest and used caution when navigating the area, as he could only make out Nicole's location, not the things possibly around himself. He limped slowly forward making sure that his legs weren't broken, and navigated the narrow path stacked to the brim with obstructing metal piles.

He was still fearful for his life, and even though the computer illuminated such a small part in the short distance. He still feared an entity of unimaginable brutality would swoop in a rend the flesh from his bones. He tried to move slightly quicker but found it impossible to go even remotely fast. He could see the screen approaching his limping feet, and he was starting to feel just a tiny bit safer.

"Almost… there..." He said to himself struggling to move his injured body.

Once he was up close enough, he could see that Nicole was severely damaged and partly submerged into a blackish brown puddle that was flooding the floor. He wasn't sure what it was, but it disgusted him to think he had his face in it. His eyes scanned the small area of light surrounding her, and all he could hope was that she still worked.

He removed his hand from his chest and tried to bend over to reach her, but the pain proved too severe, and he let out a groan of pain. "Ahhh… rr" Putting pressure on his chest was a terrible idea, and he now had to preoccupy his thoughts with a way to just pick up Nicole.

He thought for a second and kept his eyes on the light which was his only relief from his fear at the moment. He could see his boots in the nasty liquid and decided that reaching Nicole had to be done even if it caused him discomfort.

He slowly bent downwards keeping his upper half steady and quickly slid downwards, flopping to his knees with a splash. "Ahh!" It hurt, but it hurt far less than trying to use his left arm to gently lower himself down or bend his top half over completely. While on his knees he picked up Nicole in his right hand and wiped some of the muck off her display and outer casing. He could see many cracks in her screen and her protective layer was blackened with severe burning.

"Nicole! Speak to me!" He cried, trying to shake the machine to get it to respond. The screen went off, and then it flashed back on, and text started to scroll up along the cracked screen.

SCANNING SYSTEM FUNCTIONS…

MOST PHYSICAL COMPONENTS BADLY DAMAGED…

SYSTEM OPERATING AT 27% CAPACITY…

SCANNING SYSTEM A.I.

SYSTEM A.I. AT 100% FUNCTIONALITY. TO ACCESS THE A.I. CONSTRUCT MAX MUST REQUEST FOR NICOLE PERSONALLY….

Max's eyes lit up, and he started to speak to the machine. "Nicole. It's me, Max. E-everything is ok. Please, I need your help."

The screen of the computer flashed, and he could see his image on the small screen. He could tell that Nicole was viewing him.

"Nicole are you ok?' Max said forgetting about his pain for a brief moment now that Nicole was with him once again.

"Max…" The machine said. It could see his dirty, cut up, and frightened expression.

"I am fine for the most part... My A.I. is at 100 percent functionality, but my physical system is severely damaged."

Max pulled his right arm in and pressed the broken computer against his chest. Nicole was surprised, but she understood the gesture as a hug.

"I-I don't know what happened." He said to her moving her away from his chest. Of all the agony and fear he was in, he felt so elated to at least have Nicole with him right now.

Nicole studied Max's face and his body and could tell that things were terribly wrong with him. She honestly had no idea what happened either, but she decided to explain what she did know.

"When I overloaded the reactor of the power facility I was intercepted by ORACLE. She tried to force her way into my A.I. chip and assimilate with me, so instead of trying to fight with her, I blocked off all access to myself. ORACLE, not willing to let me get away with such a tactic instead sought to destroy me by overloading my system with electricity." Nicole explained.

"I just remember you exploding," Max said to her keeping her balanced in his right hand.

"Yes, it was a desperate move. Surging my system, while effective, is a dangerous thing for an A.I. to do. It requires the A.I to take on way more electrical energy than it is capable of, and as a repercussion, it causes system damage to itself." Nicole said.

"Give me a minute Nicole," Max said after she was finished speaking.

Once he was sure she had said everything she intended to him, he closed her and slid her into his coat pocket. He slowly started to push himself up with his right arm and grabbed onto the invisible metal pile with his hand to help stabilize himself. Once he was on his feet, he re-opened Nicole so that the light returned to his face.

Nicole was not sure why he needed to close her to stand up, but given his movements and expression from earlier, she was gathering he was severely hurt.

"What..." Nicole started to speak, and then stopped as if she were hesitant.

"What is it, Nicole?" He said trying to keep his mind off the pain from standing.

"What happened to you, Max?" She asked, and though she had the same monotonous voice, Max understood the concern behind the question.

"I was trapped in the room where you exploded, and I was about to be blown to smithereens myself. When one of the walls opened randomly revealing a drop chute, I grabbed you and decided jumping was better than being obliterated. I slid downwards for god knows how long, and got banged up pretty bad, but I survived somehow." He explained his half of what happened to her.

"Drop chute," Nicole stated as if it were an oddity.

"I have no idea where I am or what to do." He admitted to her.

Nicole took a second and then a map started displaying on her cracked screen. After a few moments, a shiny dot appeared.

"After reviewing the map of the power facility and going by the old maps of the city. I estimate we are likely located in one of the old sewage plant storage facilities. If a chute were built the nearest underground area would likely be storage facility C. It is a place that was built to store supplies for the underground sewage treatment plant." She showed the map of the underground to him, and it made sense that if Robotnik built a chute, it would most likely lead to this area.

"Is there a way out? Can you light the area so we can see?" Max asked feeling a sense of hope well up within him. He may be really hurt, but he felt slightly energized by Nicole's presence.

"My flashlight, laser, rear camera, and input functionalities are all destroyed. If we are going to get out of here safely. It might be wise to try and activate the emergency power switch to the east. I might not be able to light the way, but I can use the map to guide you. Then if we can get power working, we can probably see the exit points." Nicole said to him.

Max nodded and started to limp forward. He could only see using the map Nicole displayed as a guide, and even though every step caused his chest and body pain. He was unwilling to take any breaks. The sooner he could get some kind of light the safer he would feel.

"Left," Nicole instructed him.

Max pressed past some lumps of metal in the dark.

"Straight ahead." He kept going, accidentally kicking some metal as it splashed in the water.

Ding!

Max stopped when he heard the sound and started looking down towards the metal he just kicked. He raised his boot slightly, and the metal came rising out of the water. He couldn't see it but turned Nicole around to illuminate his boot with her screen. It was the hilt of his blade resting on it.

"I need to get this Nicole!" He said to her excitedly, not wanting to be completely defenseless down here, though it was more for his comfort than for combat. He placed her in his pocket removing his only light and stood there with the blade resting against his foot.

" _What luck._ " Max thought to himself, raising his boot as far as he could without the sword falling off, and the pain being negotiable.

Max knew he had to do this, and quickly forced himself to bend towards the raised hilt grabbing at it with his right hand.

"Ahh oww!" He cried out in pain, but his fingers latched onto the handle until it was firmly held. He took in deep gasps of swallowed air, as it was the easiest way for him to breathe without pain. He probably shouldn't have done that, but he felt a sense of security having it. He placed it in its sheath at his left side, and slowly removed Nicole from his pocket.

Once she was opened again, and the light was comfortably shining on his face, he felt relieved.

"I-I got it." He said through painful gasps.

Nicole said nothing to his celebration, but even as a machine, his behavior and injury were eliciting strange new sensations within her.

"We should continue on." She eventually said to him, and he nodded in agreement. He had caught enough of his breath that he felt he could move again.

"Right." She navigated him once more.

"Continue right." She said.

"Straight ahead." Max kept walking in the darkness his attention focused primarily on the map.

"Stop," Nicole said, and Max stopped to a complete halt. Not wasting a second, he turned Nicole around and used her screen to reveal what was directly in front of him. He could see a massive grimy stone wall, and attached to it was a rusted red box with a giant switch.

"This has to be it," Max said putting Nicole into his pocket once again. He put his right hand on the switch and tugged at it. It wouldn't budge, so Max put even more weight on it. It slowly started to squeak and scrape downward, causing him some discomfort the more he pushed. He was more concerned with actually being able to see in this miserable place.

**SLAM!**

The switch came all the way down, and sparks started to fly in a multitude of directions scaring Max. He stammered back and moved away from it out of instinctual fear, and the sound of humming could now be heard echoing through the room.

CRACK!

SPARK!

CRACK!

CRACK!

The lights that should have come on started to break and spark. It went down the line of the wall until the third to the last one actually lit. The room was barely revealed as the one light was not enough to encompass or brighten the entire room. However, it was powerful enough to illuminate a good chunk of it, leaving the rest dim or marred in shadow.

Max's eyes took in everything that he could see, and what he could see caused an intense fear within him. The shadows were hiding a grimmer and more sinister truth. He could see thousands of broken discarded machines piled on top of each other like a garbage heap. Their staring black soulless eyes and twisted mechanical grimace revealed to him a world of forgotten torment.

He was shaken and was coming to the realization that these were workerbots. The very people they were trying to free. He had fallen into the depths of a mass graveyard, and it made little difference to him that these corpses were made of metal. All of those discarded and thrown away souls of roboticized citizens lie forgotten here. It was almost too much for Max to bear witness to.

"The missing workerbots..." He said out loud to himself.

" _This is where they all went to, but why_?" His mind couldn't even dream of coming up with an answer so quickly.

He started to gaze up from the piles of workerbots and could see the destroyed and melted chute he had likely flown out of, along with several other chutes that probably lead to other facilities in Robotropolis. The sturdy stone ceiling was also severely cracked, and Max realized that there was the possibility this place would cave in and crush him to death.

He had so many things to worry about, he decided to just be thankful for having the ability to see again. Now that Max had light he was able to tend to everything that he needed to. It may not be a lot of light, but it was enough to check himself and vast portions of the room out. He stopped looking towards the ceiling and turned his attention to his left arm. He nervously looked over at it now that it had his attention, and could see it was bent in an awkward position.

"Damn!" He shouted in a panic, as he tried to hastily unbutton his royal coat with one arm. He knew this was bad, but he genuinely didn't know how bad it was. He struggled to pull the coat off, but when he couldn't stand the pain, he stopped. He started to swallow deep gasps of air to help himself calm down less painfully.

"It's ok. It's not so bad..." He reasoned with himself, but as time passed he got more frightened. He was well aware of his own denial and knew that he needed to see what was wrong with his arm.

"My sword..." He said as he started to unsheathe it with his right hand. He knew this would come in handy at some point, and was happy he had expanded the effort to get it earlier.

He used his working arm and proceeded to gently place the blade into the bottom half of his left coat sleeve; piercing the fabric with its razor sharpness. He pulled as softly as possible so that the steel would cut effortlessly through his sleeve without irritating the injury. Once the sword cut the bottom loose, he re-sheathed it back to his left side.

"Ah." He made a sound as he was feeling apprehensive about looking, but he had to know because this was important. He started to peel up the loose sleeve revealing the beginning of his wrist and arm. The further he moved up the more bruised and bloody it became, and his heart raced with every inch exposed.

He took in a gulp of painful air when he finally reached the bump. He hesitated for over a minute out of pure nervousness. Eventually, he got brave enough, and he pulled up gently to reveal the lump. He could see the bump was a piece of snapped bone that was sticking out through his skin. He immediately freaked out and dropped the sleeve back over the injury while letting out a terrified yell.

"Oh god!" He cried out his mind going blank from the shock. He was utterly horrified by what he saw, and it didn't take a genius to figure out how serious this actually was. His poor arm was in agonizing pain, and who knew how long it had stewed in that disgusting filth on the ground.

Max was mortified beyond words, and he just stood there staring blankly at his boots soaking in the dirty water. He was afraid of imagined threats before, but now he had something real to be terrified about. He needed to get out of here and get help extremely fast, and he knew this for certain.

He moved his hand into his coat and pulled out Nicole snapping her open with his thumb like he did so many times before. She could see him via her front camera, and when he turned her around, she could see the mass graveyard of workerbots.

"I don't know what is going on here Nicole, but we need- we need to get out." He said, and his voice sounded desperate.

Nicole was processing the visual information, and when she was turned back around to face him, she could see Max's fatigued expression. She analyzed most of his upper body and used the visual information to try and determine how bad off he was. She was well versed in the anatomy of animals thanks to the data Rotor had given her, and she even knew proper treatments for ailments despite the fact she could not administer them.

After a short while, she came to the conclusion that his arm was severely broken and his expression kept shifting between discomfort and fear.

"I think it is the correct course of action to exit this place. It would be unwise to dwell here for too long." She gave her opinion but omitted that her central concern was for him.

Max looked around the giant underground room. Most of it was dumped workerbots, but there were also giant steel drums and other trash left over from when this was a simple storage area. He was looking for any signs of an exit, but he could not find anything at all.

"How do we get out?" He asked Nicole weakly. All of the moving around and pain was dragging his energy down.

Nicole examined the map and indicated the exit door was located west of the destroyed chute. Max limped his body all the way there, but as he anticipated the door was entirely buried by mounds of heavy metal. The workerbots that had been dropped here in masse had littered the center area and most of the walls barring the exit.

"No… what do we do?" He asked Nicole feeling sadness overwhelm him.

Nicole scanned the area, and her map started to beep.

"Judging from the map, there is a second exit that leads directly to the sewer system. Perhaps that one will be of more use to us." She said to him.

Max only nodded and shuffled his way towards the second door. This one was barely visible and had discarded workerbots piled up across roughly thee-fourths of it. He could see the giant metal wheel that unlatched the locking mechanism for the door. He placed Nicole on top of the robots in one of the metal heaps, and then put his right hand on the rusted metal wheel.

With all of the strength, he could muster he attempted to the force the wheel to turn, but it refused to budge at all. The pulling motion led to his chest being shocked by a great deal of pain, and he took his hand off the wheel to hold his aching ribs.

"Ahhh!" He cried out feeling both pain and frustration. He was too hopeful to even think he could open that rusted door, and also if he did unlock it, it was likely he couldn't pull it open because of the robot heap. He felt crestfallen and was at a loss for words. He turned back to look at Nicole sitting atop the dead workerbot and made his way back to her.

"It's no use, Nicole..." He said sadly to her, but even after he spoke, she remained unresponsive.

"Nicole...?" He said again.

He looked at her screen, and he could see she was positioned to face the door. He turned around again and zeroed in on the area she was focused on. He staggered over and noticed that in the pile of workerbots one of them stood out to him. It was that of a young lynx, probably about the same age of Sonia, and looking at her discarded and abandoned in this miserable tomb brought a hopeless sadness he didn't need right now.

He could only think of his dear little sister, and it hurt him deep inside. He looked away from the soulless being, and back to Nicole. Was she staring at the same sad image he was? He limped back over and picked her up holding her in his hand. She started to speak when she was jostled from the spot.

"I… am... having…" She spoke in broken words, and Max gave her a quick shake.

"Nicole, what's going on?" He asked her.

Nicole said nothing at first and then started to speak once more. "I… saw things… things that I've never seen before. When you placed me down, I could see images of a man grabbing onto me… I… it was somebody I've never seen before." She said. This experience seemed to confuse her in an exotic way, and Max wasn't sure what to make of it.

"What did he look like?" Max asked her. His legs were shaking a little bit, and the more he stood, the more exhausted he became.

"I… he was older than... any of us. I… these workerbots. They…" This experience was so profound that it left even Nicole unable to explain it in some direct and logical way.

Max was struggling to stand so he weakly moved away from the door with Nicole in hand. He could see piles of robots, and a few heavy metal barrels lying in the corner. He walked his way over towards them and sat on one of the drums so he could rest for a bit. He sighed painfully, feeling extremely fatigued, and rested his broken arm on his stomach. He kept his gaze on the young lynxbot trapped by the door and placed Nicole on top of the mountain of metal workerbots that sat near him.

"I really don't know what to make of this place," Nicole admitted.

Max turned his gaze over to her. He was not expecting to hear that, but in truth, she had been acting less like her typical self since they had fallen down here. Max himself was not doing well either, as he was fighting to keep his fatigued body running. Even lying on these filthy uncomfortable barrels was making it hard for him to keep his eyes open.

"Wh-who do you think the man you saw was?" Max tried to ask, but his words came out low and hard to hear.

"I don't know... but I… #* &#^ %&" Nicole's speech started to become garbled as Max began to mildly fluctuate between awake and asleep. Things were beginning to spin slightly, and he felt an overwhelming need for rest. He fought to keep himself lucid and awake, but he was failing to do so. His mind would think things as he felt sweat pour off his fur.

" _How long was I down here?"_

" _I'm dying?"_

" _What should I do?"_

His mind kept repeating the same things over and over again. He tried even harder to keep his eyes open, but they would periodically shut without him realizing it. He kept slipping in and out of consciousness, and eventually, he reached a point where he ended up staying that way.

…..

…

…..

….

….

.

RUMBLE!

…

SHAKE!

…

RUMBLE

…

**CRASH!**

…

An extraordinarily loud sound echoed through the giant stone graveyard. Max's eyes opened slowly as the shaking, and deafening noises knocked him out of his slumber. He could see the dim light of the room just as he had left it, but now he could see a giant thick chunk of stone lying on top of a pile of crushed bots.

He slowly looked up and could see the crack in the ceiling had gotten far worse, and a giant chunk of the unstable roof had fallen to the ground. Max knew the danger this presented, but he also could barely function enough on his own to really care.

He moved his head over and saw Nicole still where he placed her, and he ran his right hand along his sweaty face. He had lost all concept of time, and he felt far worse than he had before. His pain was only a small percentage of his misery now. He felt extremely hot and extraordinarily thirsty; it made him realize he hadn't eaten or drank anything in god knows how long.

"Ugh." He moaned feeling ill. He pulled forward grabbing his aching chest as he did and stared down at the nasty water flooding the room. He was so thirsty that even drinking that was tempting to his sick body. Even if it was a terrible idea, he desperately needed water to sustain himself.

"Max…" He could hear Nicole's voice and could make out the things she was saying once again.

"Nicole- I... what?" He struggled to say, barely able to keep his head wholly up under his own power.

"You are severely injured, and your body is sickly. I honestly wasn't sure if you would wake up again." Nicole said to him.

Max felt guilty and rubbed the sweat from his fur. "How long… have. This… How long have I been here?" He tried to make sense.

"You fell unconscious over twenty-seven hours ago. I could see you struggling to breathe, and you stirred every so often, but I couldn't wake you by speaking." She told him.

"T-twenty-seven? I... how?" He asked, but in truth, he knew the answer. Even now he felt like he was ready to pass back out. He had never felt so awful in his entire life, and he could barely stand his insatiable thirst.

Nicole knew that Max was deprived of both food and water, she also knew that his body was likely trying to heal itself through deep rest.

"I… don't know what to do Nicole." He whined feeling upset. "I can't open the door, and I can't move anything out of the way. I just…" He trailed off as he leaned back looking at the ceiling. His hot face was starting to leak fresh tears.

Nicole could do nothing but sit and watch him cry, she wanted to say anything, do anything to ease his suffering, but even with her vast knowledge, she was powerless. She knew that those were virtually the only ways out, and there was little she could say to offer him solace.

Max wept on the barrel sliding his only good arm up to his face. Every cry and whimper caused his chest pain, and he just felt powerless, sealed away forever in this stone coffin with the rest of the damned.

"I just wanted to help. I wanted to make sure everybody would be fine." He cried out to nobody in particular. "Did I really deserve this… this punishment?" His voice cracked and quivered, and his crying was laced with painful moans.

Nicole watched on in silence, and she was sure if she possessed a heart it would be broken by now. This feeling of despair that Max displayed was eliciting in her something she could not physically feel, but she definitely "felt" something emotionally for him at this moment.

Max leaned back feeling pathetic. A 16-year-old should not be sobbing like a coward, and instead, thinking of solutions, but here he was crying his eyes out. He was an adult now, was he not? He tried to chastise himself for his inappropriate weakness, but it only led him to the realization that his kind and gentle heart wouldn't allow him to be a steadfast, stoic hero.

He sniffled and tried to stop crying, and he eventually looked to Nicole, whom just kept her silence.

"I… it is funny Nicole… I… am tapped here," He gulped in the air between sobs and pain. "but I just keep thinking… about... my…arm..." He wheezed a bit.

He slid his right hand up to his sleeve and pulled the torn fabric up to display his injury to Nicole for the first time. Nicole could see the seriousness of his injury and could immediately tell it was severely infected. She knew that he would die from such a severe infection, and for the first time, she felt the genuine emotion of fear. She knew it was fear, she could quantify it. She might not be able to experience the physical aspects of it, but she could feel the emotional pain of it.

Max let his sleeve flop down. "I'm scared Nicole..." He cried. "I'm scared to lose my arm... I..." He started to break down and cry into his dirty sleeve, not caring in the slightest about the filth.

Nicole could see and understand his despair. Out of everything that happened this was the one thing he couldn't stop thinking about. It was the one thing that terrorized his mind.

"I…" Max cried again gripping his aching chest. His fever was getting the better of him, and he almost slid off the metal drum he was resting on.

Nicole was a machine, and she was logical through and through. She knew the truth of his wound, and she knew that at this point there was an exceedingly high chance it would have to be severed off. She watched him fall over himself in agony and misery, and she finally choose to speak.

"I… your injury has not reached the point that it would require amputation. I think you will be fine by the time we find a way out of here." She lied to his face. She honestly didn't even know why she lied. It didn't even make logical sense to do so, but she did regardless.

Max sniffled and looked down at his bent arm. "I… do you really think so?" Max put his trust in Nicole since he had a high degree of faith in her knowledge.

Nicole didn't answer immediately. She knew the truth, she knew that leaving the arm attached would likely kill him with such a severe infection.

"Your arm will be fine Max." She lied a second time. For some reason being logical about this with Max took a backseat to his comfort.

"Promise me, Nicole… Promise you won't let anything happen to my arm." He practically begged, as if dodging the issue that he was stuck down here and likely going to die regardless.

…..

…..

"I promise…" Nicole said to him. It was the first time she ever made a promise like this, and unfortunately, it happened to be one she was confident she couldn't keep, but regardless she did it anyway. She really didn't even understand it herself, but in acting illogically, she found her own self feeling a little better because of it.

Max gave her a weak smile and wiped his nose with the dirty sleeve. He let out a small chuckle of sadness and looked at his lap.

Nicole sat there contemplating his laugh at a time like this, but she quickly realized that her lies had brought comfort to him. He was trying to raise his spirits in this desperate time and was doing it the only way he knew how.

"It is good to hear you laugh," Nicole said to him.

Max leaned back, and his dizziness returned to him. He held his chest and looked at Nicole. He wanted to get his mind off of everything, so he thought hard about something to talk about.

"Nicole? What were you talking about before I passed out?" Max recalled her speaking about the man she saw, and then things went to gibberish.

"I stated that I had no idea who that person was. I cannot recall who he is or when I might have contacted him, but his likeness calls out to me. I can see it for some reason as if it were familiar." Nicole said to Max.

"Could the person you see possibly been the man that built you? You are only just remembering now because of your upgrade?" Max tried to help her figure it out.

"I suppose that is possible," Nicole admitted. That was probably the most likely explanation, but it didn't explain why it triggered here of all places, or why she could only recall vague, marred by shadow images of him holding her.

Max kept his gaze fixated on the machine, and his eyes started to once again close. His fever and exhaustion were destroying him, and he feared that the next time he fell into slumber would be the last time he would be alive.

Nicole watched him quietly, and she realized that she would have to watch him die a horrible death. She realized that long after he passed on, she would watch his body rot and inevitably turn to bone. She was eternal unlike him, and she knew that watching him die was probably her greatest fear. She knew it, and she recognized it, unlike before when uncertainty ruled her she now knew the truth of it.

Max was starting to slump over, and his tiredness was beginning to drag him down once more. No matter how hard he fought, he just couldn't win against the sickness.

"I am scared." Max heard Nicole's voice pierce the silence, and his eyes opened with a slight jolt of energy.

"You're?" Max said surprised to hear an admission of feeling from Nicole. An explicit declaration that she was feeling a certain way.

"I am afraid of watching you die." She stated bluntly.

Max was shocked at her admission and looked down. If he was feeling well enough, he might even be embarrassed by her proclamation, but he just stared at the dirty water on the floor. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that after he perished, she would be stuck here forever and that in itself made his heart break like so many other parts of his body today.

He knew there was nothing Nicole could do to help him, but he started to wonder if there was anything he could do to help her. Her fate was unfair, and even if he had to die like this; knowing she would be down here trapped without a way out hurt him.

"If you had kept the self-destruct protocol on me you could have blasted your way out," Nicole admitted, and it came across as a statement filled with guilt on her part.

Max scowled when he heard that, and he forced himself to his feet grimacing in pain as he went.

"No… stop talking like that!" He became angry and staggered slightly due to his dizziness and pain.

"Y-You are important to me Nicole, and even if I were down here dying just the same I would never sacrifice you to save myself!" He grabbed onto his hurting chest.

"I may be a lot... lot of things, but one thing I am not is completely selfish." He took in a few sharp breaths and stared at Nicole.

Nicole could say nothing to that, and she just remained quiet. She had worked up Max at possibly the worst of times, but that look of determination on his sickly face kind of took away the feeling of fear and guilt she was emotionally experiencing.

Max looked around the room, and his eyes zeroed in on the door that he had tried to open previously. He started to think with every ounce of strength he had left in his brain. His mind began to wander back to the conversations with Rotor, and then to the one with uncle Chuck about missing workerbots. His eyes glanced at the piles of workerbots and then settled themselves back on Nicole.

He started to shuffle closer to her while drawing his sword as he went and Nicole was utterly unclear as to what his intentions were.

"Max… What are you doing?" She asked.

Max just looked at her apologetically and started to raise his sword in a shaky right hand.

"Max?" Nicole asked him again. It was clear that he was not in his right mind any longer.

"Nicole… I don't... know how much time and energy I have left. I just want you to know that I am going to save you no matter what…. don't be afraid… please." With that request, he swung his hand downwards and sliced the bottom half of Nicole's outer case off. It fell into the dirty water revealing her precious electronic guts. He re-sheathed his sword and placed his now free hand on her case.

Nicole could sense the danger, but without any way to defend herself, she was at the mercy of Max. She trusted him, but was unsure if he had lost his mind or not due to his condition.

She really didn't get a chance to answer him, as he effortlessly reached in and pulled out the precious A.I. chip that had been powering her newfound growth. He was sad to destroy his mother's heirloom but knew that if this was the only way he could unchain Nicole, so be it.

Max placed the chip into his pocket and eyed the robot lynx partially trapped inside of the pile. He limped over to her and grabbed onto the wall slightly as he lost his balance. His sickness was making everything difficult, but he had to get this done. No matter what he wouldn't let Nicole suffer the same fate as he would.

He braced himself and started to slide his broken arm into the armpit of the robot, and his right arm into the other one. She was half sticking out, and it would take some force, but he believed he could pull her out if he put everything into it. Once he gasped in a few breaths of air. He started walking back to let his upper arms attempt pull the tortured lynx from her prison.

"Rrrr ahhhhhh!" Max screamed out in agonizing pain, as he pulled back against the stuck machine, every once and a while shaking to jostle the robot free from the pile.

Max ignored all of the damage he was doing to himself and pulled as hard as he could. The pain was unbearable, but he couldn't quit, not yet.

A minute passed, and the robot jostled free with a hard slam to the ground. The open space that was left caused the other robots once on top of her to fall into it. The young robotized girl plopped face first into the dirty water, and Max swallowed as much air as he could to catch his breath. He had indeed hurt himself doing that, and it was so terrible he felt he could almost pass out from it.

"Ah... hah…hah" He breathed in and out in an attempt to control the agony. His whole body was hurting, and he had to use his right hand to hold himself up against the wall so that he could stabilize himself.

After a few minutes, Max was able to remove himself from the wall. His arm felt worse than ever, but at least his chest only hurt when he moved or breathed again. He looked down at the bot he pulled out and made his way to it

He examined her back for a minute and then drew his sword again once he found what he was searching for. He gently inserted the blade tip into one of the small cracks along the plate at the back of the robot's head. He then proceeded to push down while rocking it back and forth until a small snap could be heard. After that, he gave a swift kick to the side of the sword, and the back panel of the head flipped open revealing the precious interior of the robot.

When he looked inside his suspicions were confirmed. There was nothing inside of the robot's head, and it was devoid of its most vital part. Max looked over to Nicole's destroyed body pieces floating in the water. He put his sword away and reached into his pocket to pull out the A.I. chip. He stared at it lying in his right hand, and then stared at the empty space in the robot's head.

"Robotnik's been removing the brains of roboticized citizens and then discarding their bodies down here," Max said to himself, and though he wasn't exactly sure why. He was confident that is what was going on.

Max didn't know who this was, or who she might have been, but Robotnik had erased her entire being from history. He couldn't help but feel intense guilt on top of all the other miserable emotions, but he had already come this far, and he refused to back down.

"I am sorry… I hope that at the very least freeing you from this disgusting place gives you some sense of peace..." He said to the dead machine. Even though he knew she was gone, he had some hope that she could still hear him somehow.

Max dropped to his knees with a gasp and started to place the chip into the robot gently. It effortlessly slid into place and immediately locked in with a loud click. He slammed the head plate closed, and used the workerbot pile to help bring himself to his feet. He moved towards the deactivated robot and used his boot to carefully roll it over so that it was facing towards him.

He knew that Nicole had taken a long time to activate when he initially transferred her A.I. to the roboticized brain and was fully aware he might be dead by the time Nicole was reactivated with this transfer. He just examined the face of the deactivated robot and wondered if Nicole would be ok with this. He knew that he was forcing something irreversible onto her, but given that her having a physical body was the only way she would escape. He didn't care much, as sometimes the best course of action wasn't always the most desired.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed slight movement coming from the lynx's head, and within moments the robot started to twitch its hand. Max gazed down in complete surprise and anticipation, as he honestly thought it would take a long time for her to activate like previously, but she was already showing signs of life unlike before when it took many hours.

The robot's eyes started to power on, and they were two bright blue lights that shifted and moved as it looked. It was as if the fires of a sacred soul began burning deep within the artificial body. Taking in the sights for the first time, and reborn into the world as an autonomous being.

"Max… what is... this...?" Her feminine voice came out, but only this time it had inflection and personality attached to it. He could tell right away she was in a state of confusion by her voice alone.

He smiled at her, and she could clearly see his sickness and injury better than she ever could before. Her eyes looking at him were able to pick up and copy every muscle movement he made, and within seconds she was able to sit herself up.

"Movement?" She said looking down in shock. She moved her dirty metal hands in front of herself in disbelief as the puzzle pieces came together for her. She looked up at Max, who was still smiling at her as best as he was able. He was holding his chest and now leaning against the dirty wall for support.

" _What had he done?_ "

" _Why had he done this?_ "

"This- this is somebody else's body?" Nicole stated in a surprised tone.

Max stood there and took in a painful breath. "No, it is your body. Whoever it belonged to is now gone for reasons I cannot fathom, but I promised I would make sure you could get out, and so I did what I had to." In truth, Max wanted to save both of them, and this was the only compromise he could make to do so.

Nicole was sitting there attempting to let all of what was done sink into her. She didn't know this was possible, but it strangely felt like she had reached her rightful state of being. Her roboticized brain started to work in tandem with her other roboticized organs, and together it created a harmony that she had never known.

Feelings were feelings and memories were memories. The logicality of computer beginnings crossed the threshold into extant life. She understood it, she knew it now, and all confusion on the matter had been wiped clean.

She looked over at Max struggling to make his way to her, and she was awestruck by the gifts he had given to her out of sheer ignorance and faith. She understood his care and could now fully reciprocate it. She mimicked his leg movements and started to rise to her metal feet. She stood shorter than him but a thousand times stronger. He stopped in his tracks and staggered a bit from her sudden rise. He wasn't afraid he was surprised, surprised that she has assimilated so quickly to her new form.

Nicole felt powerful and free in a way that she never had before. She turned to Max, and her eyes burned brightly with blue fire. She moved over to him until she stood before him and took notice of his gaunt, sickly figure.

"…."

"Nicole?" He asked, unsure of what to say to her. He had freed her from her bonds but didn't really know what she was standing there for.

She remained silent and stepped forward, her arms started to outstretch and lightly wrap around him. He felt discomfort, but now understood what she was doing. He slid his right arm around her, and the two embraced for the first time. Nicole couldn't feel his warmth or touch but could feel the weight of him on her metal body. She may have been grimy, but it was the first time that either of them felt real comfort in all of this.

"We're getting out of here," Nicole stated, as a matter of fact, releasing Max from her gentle grip.

Max staggered somewhat and went back to leaning against the wall to keep himself standing. He was thankful Nicole immediately took to this new form and started to feel a great deal of hope. He was doing horribly, but he knew he could trust Nicole to help him.

Nicole turned to the door and looked extremely determined as she started to grab onto the metal wheel of the locking mechanism. With relative ease, she was able to twist it causing a loud scraping sound. The rust flaked off of it, and she could hear the metal latch slide open. Her strength was immeasurable, and she did not feel fatigue.

Max watched in awe as she effortlessly moved the heavy workerbots out of the door's path, and after several minutes had cleared enough out of the way to open it. She reached out her metallic arm and started to tug at the door, after about a minute it began to bend and break free from the rust. With one large pull, the door flung open with a loud screech revealing an extremely dark tunnel that smelled terrible.

Max couldn't believe that she had freed them, and now there might be a chance to return to Knothole. He staggered forward and almost fell, but Nicole quickly caught him by his right arm.

"Ahhh rrhh!" He cried out. The more time that passed, the harder it became for him to move. He was still quite sick and injured, but Nicole refused to let him go it alone. She pushed her body against him so that he could lean most of his weight on her, and with her metal arm she held him up while carefully avoiding his injury.

"Th-thanks Nicole…" He said weakly, and appreciatively.

With that, she slowed her pace and let Max go at the speed he needed to. Both stepped into the foreboding darkness of the tunnel, and Nicole's blue eyes shined a light on the path. She could see entirely in the dark, but the brightness her eyes helped Max see better.

The tunnel was comprised of old, wet, slippery stones, and it was apparent this was the old Mobotropolis sewer system. The two walked in tandem with one another, and Max held on with all of the strength his right arm had. The stones were dangerously slippery, and he was already prone to falling due to the condition he was in.

The two walked in silence, slowly making their way through the sewer system. After about ten minutes it was apparent to Nicole that Max was struggling to move. She stopped and started to look upwards along the stone wall. There was an extremely long ladder that led up towards a utility cover.

Max could see the blue light shining over these things, and in his heart, he knew it was impossible for him to climb this ladder. He was sure he would fall, and he felt bad for making things more difficult on Nicole.

"I- I don't know if I can make it Nicole. That ladder is a bit much." He said to her.

She looked at him and then started to bend down to her metal knees. "Put your arm around my neck, and I'll do the rest." She said to him in a pleasant tone.

Max looked up once more and decided to rely on her. He wrapped his right arm around her neck weakly. He could feel her metal arm bend behind herself in order support his weight and allow him to sit restfully on it. Nicole stood up slowly so as not to jostle him too much and with her free hand grabbed onto the metal ladder. With one arm Nicole slowly started to ascend the ladder keeping most of Max's weight on her body, so that he didn't have to struggle or hold on very hard.

"Ah" Max cried in slight pain and fear. He was bouncing a little bit with each step Nicole took, but he knew they were rising. He placed his acing chest against her metal back and clenched his right arm as tightly to her as he could.

CLANK

…

CLANK

…

CLANK

…

CLANK

…

They slowly rose to the top of the ladder. Max still feared to fall, but since Nicole was taking the brunt of most of his weight. He found himself relatively safer than he would have been if he had tried to climb this thing the entire way with his broken arm.

"We are here." Nicole let Max know she had reached the top.

Now was the tricky part, she had to remove the utility cover to reach the streets, not only that, but the roads might be perilous. She wasn't sure how to proceed at this time, but Max made the decision for her.

"Ahhh hahhh." He whined in pain, as he let himself gently down to the ladder step below her, and wrapped his right arm around the step at her feet to stabilize himself. His broken arm dangled at his side, and he positioned himself between the bars of the ladder in a sitting position so that he could rest all of his weight on it.

"Ju… just get up… please..." He asked her while gritting his teeth. He was extremely uncomfortable, but he knew Nicole had to break them out of here.

With Nicole's hand free, she was able to push against the utility cover while simultaneously holding her position on the ladder. With little effort, she pushed up the giant, massive steel chunk of metal. Her blue robotic eyes looked out and were greeted by a destroyed city street in central Robotropolis. The hour was late evening, and the weather was going completely insane, the winds were blowing so hard that it might literally blow Max over if he stood on his own. The heavy rain that flooded the streets started pouring into the sewer, dousing Max on the ladder.

"Ah… What's going on up there?" He asked her while holding onto the ladder for dear life.

Nicole could see that there was no SWATBOT activity in the immediate area and that it would be best to move now. She threw the utility cover aside with a loud slam and quickly darted from the ladder to the street. The heavy rain from the sky and road started flooding in onto Max, and he became scared that he might slip off.

"Ah! N-Nicole!" He tried to yell but wound up only hurting his chest. After a second Nicole reappeared with the utility cover and used it as a way to stop the rain from drowning him out.

"Can you make it?" Nicole asked apprehensively. Max could hear the tone of her voice and started to speak up to her.

"I-I'll be fine… Just… wait for me..." He said while pulling his aching and weak body up into a standing position. He had such a short distance to go, but it was so hard and painful that he still wasn't sure he could make it.

He slowly and agonizingly pulled himself up each step sucking in and swallowing air as he went. He was struggling to breathe and hold on, and it was only his sheer determination to get out of this place that kept him rising.

"Five more..." He cringed.

"Ahhh rrrrr." He roared in pain.

"Four…" His hand started to shake on the ladder.

"Three…" He was almost there, he could taste it. "A little more."

"T-two..." He heaved in hurting his chest.

"Ah!" He slipped a little bit and almost lost his grip.

Nicole threw aside the disk of metal and reached down. She grabbed onto his right arm to make sure he wouldn't fall. The sudden grab and jolt caused him to scream in pain. "Ahhhh fu-!" He cried in agony. Once Nicole was sure he was secure in her grip, she pulled him up with her robotic strength to the rainy world above.

"I-I'm sorry." She said remorsefully.

"Ohhhhh… ahah…" Max collapsed to the ground rolling a tiny bit while clenching his chest and trying to get air into his body. He was lying in a giant puddle in the middle of Robotropolis but could care less about any threats or Nicole's apology.

Nicole walked over to him and looked down at the struggling boy. "Max are you alright?" Nicole's voice was full of sympathy.

Max just nodded to her, until he found enough air to speak out loud. "I-I just need... a… minute... please..." He asked her through painful breaths.

Nicole just frowned and gave him a silent nod. She decided to take the opportunity to survey the area they were at. Even if she had changed forms, she still retained all of the knowledge she previously had and knew the quickest ways to escape the city.

Max just lay on the ground staring up at the decaying planet. The darkest of thunderclouds raged overhead, and the thunder cracked so loud that one could swear Robotnik was firing his cannon. The rain was so thick and heavy that it made it hard for him to see three feet in front of himself. He moved his right hand towards the sky letting the rain splash onto his palm.

He was burning up with a fever, and his desperate thirst almost compelled him to drink the falling drops. He knew how polluted Robotnik had made this rain, so he opted to just let it soak his body and face. The slightly cool summer rain washing over his destroyed and torn body was almost a blessing. Had the summer sun been beating down, he might as well have just jumped off that ladder.

He lay in the puddle quietly basking in the slight relief the rain offered him. He almost never wanted to move from this spot, but when Nicole came into focus standing over him, he knew that it was time to move.

Nicole reached down to grab his outstretched hand, and she pulled him up gently to his feet. Once he was weakly standing, she held him close to her frame for support.

"We are in central Robotropolis. Uncle Chuck is located over in that direction," She pointed. "but I spotted legions of SWATBOTS swarming the areas further down. I don't think we could sneak you past them." She said.

The wind was blowing so hard against Max that it was hurting his body and he just nodded to Nicole's assessment.

"U-uncle Chuck doesn't usually keep me-medicine anyway." He breathed in. "Knothole is-is my only chance."

It was such a long hike to Knothole, and the weather was worse than it ever had been before. However, what choice did they have? She saw uncle Chuck give Max a bag of medicine when they visited, and she wasn't willing to subject him to hundreds of SWATBOTS.

"Alright… The sooner we go, the sooner we can fix your arm." Nicole reassured him, despite still knowing the grimness of the situation.

Max nodded and limped his way alongside Nicole. She provided him with the support he needed to move forward, and without her, Max wouldn't make it too far on his own. He held on to her firmly while she kept her superior robot eyes scanning the area. The rain did not obstruct her ability to see and sense things, so there wasn't much to worry about when it came to SWATBOTS.

The winds howled, and the lightning flashed across the sky. Each step Max took felt like it might be his last. The world was spinning and disorienting to him at this point, as he was losing some lucidity, and the violent storm only enhanced his confusion even more.

The wind pounded against them, and Nicole noticed that Max seemed to slump further and further down. He was exhausted and pushing himself harder than anybody could possibly imagine. She knew that words would not save him now, but relief from his physical distress would.

For about forty minutes they slowly walked out of the city of Robotropolis and made their way into the sacred Great Forest. Once inside the cover of trees and thick woods, the winds stopped badgering Max quite so hard, and his walking speed improved slightly. The forest was a welcome sight for Max, but the blown over trees, and severe flooding made it somewhat difficult to navigate.

Nicole did her best to move anything that barred their path and helped Max every step of the way. Max was slow and plodding but kept walking regardless of his physical needs. Nicole urged him to stop, but he kept refusing to do so. He felt as if he was on borrowed time, and wasn't even considering that he was hastening his death.

"We should rest." Nicole tried to convince him once again, but Max still refused to do so.

"W-we need to keep moving I know I can make it if we don't stop." He said to her. He knew it was over an hour hike at a reasonable pace, and that if he stopped, he might never get up again. He was as persistent as he was fearful when it came to getting to Knothole in a timely fashion.

The two walked for about another hour and a half until they reached a small series of cliffs and rock formations. They were quite a good indicator that Knothole was reasonably close to their current position, and Nicole knew that it wouldn't be long now until they could reach the medicine in the village. She looked at Max, who was barely able to walk on his own and had his head slumped down. He was hardly holding onto her, and it was mostly her dragging him through the wet forest by herself.

"Max?" She asked as the rain pounded of her metallic head. Her blue eyes focused on his face as she waiting for some sort of response.

"Ugh... Nicole… I" He said trying to formulate words. "Thirsty…Tired..." He struggled to say things. Nicole hated to see him like this, and despite her best efforts it seemed to be resulting in failure. The pollution filled rain was not adequate to feed to a dying person, and the rivers and lakes were also filled with it. Nicole couldn't believe that Robotnik had caused so much damage in so many ways.

She started to walk, but Max tripped letting out a loud yell.

"Aughhhh!" He cried out in agony, as Nicole caught him with her metal arms so he wouldn't hit the ground. He banged his chest against her, and it caused him intense pain. Nicole, concerned for his fragile body, gently set him on the grass leaning against a tree. He couldn't keep his head up any longer and quietly moved his right hand over his chest.

"Nicole… you have the autonomy you need to get back to Knothole… You don't need me to make it there. I promised you that I wouldn't let you be trapped there, and I kept that promise." He said in a low voice. He was scared to die, but he reached the point where he couldn't go on any longer. He didn't want to go on any longer. He was so close, but his body wouldn't let him.

Nicole grabbed hold of his arm and started to pull him up, wrapping it around her neck. "I promised you that I wouldn't let you die. Just hang on a little more for me... Please?" Nicole's voice sounded sad, and Max put as much effort as he could into raising his head to look into her shining blue eyes. "I... Ok… I…just... I need a couple minutes off my feet." He admitted to her. He couldn't push himself any longer, but perhaps he could build up enough strength to barely make it back.

Nicole looked around, and she spotted a cave not to far up a steep incline surrounded by trees. She figured getting Max out of the rain for a few minutes might do him a world of good. She held onto him, and slowly started to carry his weight up the incline. Max used his feet to stay steady, but it was mostly Nicole doing all of the work.

The two climbed slowly for about five minutes until they reached the opening of the cave. Nicole could see an orange glow shimmering within it and wondered if it might be a Freedom Fighter taking shelter from the chaos. Max smiled seeing the warm light, perhaps somebody here could help him get back to Knothole.

Nicole helped Max walk into the cave as their feet scraped against the dirt. There was slight shuffling noise and then as Nicole and Max reached the center of the cave, they heard the powering on sound of an energy weapon.

Nicole's eyes started to move towards the sound, but she heard somebody call out to her.

"Don't fucking move! Or I'll blow your goddamn head off SWATBOT!" The weaselly voice tried to sound intimidating. Nicole watched as Snively started to walk out from behind a giant rock corner and placed himself in front of the fire burning further in the cave. She could see a bunch of his belongings scattered around the fire and could see Snively's nervous expression.

Nicole opened her mouth about to say something, but she was cut off by Snively.

"You aren't a SWATBOT you are just a goddamn workerbot! Why are you off wondering around here instead of building!?" Snively thought for a second. "Unless my uncle sent you here to fool me!" He said with a shriek, it was clear he was extremely paranoid.

"Workerbot?" Nicole asked in confusion, forgetting that that's what this form once had been.

"You're a workerbot, it's obvious!" He spat at her mistrustfully.

She looked at Max, and that brought Snively's attention to the boy. "Who the hell is that?" He said surprised to see an animal holding onto a workerbot.

"Please…" Max said in a pathetic and tired voice while standing in the light shadows of the cave. "I… need... help..."

Snively's hand was shaking. "Bullshit, you're just the MK-2's coming after me. This is a trick, well I ain't buying it!"

Nicole wished she could attack him, but any move she made would only put Max at risk, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Max let go of Nicole, knowing Snively mistrusted the robot more than anything. He started to stagger forward barely able to keep himself moving. Nicole tried to stop him, but he just weakly pushed her hand away. "Please… help me..." He begged once again. He had no personal familiarity with Snively but knew him as a threat. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to beg and plead for his life.

Snively raised the gun at Max and started to bark orders. "Stay back! I'll blow your head off!"

Nicole was watching in apprehension, but Max just kept moving towards the small human. He finally reached a point to where his body was visible in the light of the fire. Snively could see his gaunt, sickly body, his cuts, gashes, bruises, and curved, broken arm. He looked into his eyes and saw just who it was.

Snively's hand shook until it lowered the gun to his side. "It's you… you survived that explosion...?" Snively said in disbelief. "Even that chute? You managed to survive it?" It made little sense but seeing him again looking like this crushed Snively's heart. He had always had a sense of remorse for his crimes, but to be face to face with it was rather harsh.

Snively looked to the workerbot, and already he understood she wasn't a workerbot. He didn't know or care why she was helping him, so he just asked a simple question.

"What do you want from me?" He watched as the robot moved closer to Max and started holding him up once again. She led him to the wall of the cave and helped him slide down until he was in a comfortable sitting position.

"He's dying and needed a place to rest for a few minutes. He hasn't had food or water in days." Nicole said to him, not that she expected much, but she had to at least answer.

Snively stared at the dying animal and no matter how much denial he could try to bring in. He could not convince himself he wasn't directly responsible for that misery. The boy had gone through unimaginable pain for days, and now out of all the places in this massive forest, he was at Snively's door. It was so ironic that it had to have been fate playing such a cruel joke.

Snively silently moved over to the fire and reached into the bag that he brought. He pulled out a giant bottle of filtered water from it. Water was something he could purify any time, but at this moment he felt that he didn't need it. He arched his arm back as he threw the bottle at Nicole. It flew through the air, and when it got close to her, she reached up her hand to catch it with a loud smack. Snively didn't bother to watch and merely turned his attention to the fire solemnly.

Nicole though shocked, wasted no time and bent down to offer the water to Max. She opened the cap to the bottle then lifted the squirrel's head gently, and started pouring the fresh liquid into his mouth. Max ravenously swallowed the liquid as Nicole kept pouring it. After not too long a time the entire bottle was gone, and Nicole rose to her feet looking back at Snively.

Max, who seemed to be much more relieved now that he had some fresh, clean water inside of his system, was propped up against the wall and sleep was grabbing him again. The large bottle of fresh water brought great relief to one of his many problems.

"What are….?" Nicole started to say but was cut off immediately by Snively.

"I don't want to hear it… Just please take him and go. I did you a favor, now do me one and disappear." Snively was not willing to harbor them, and he didn't want a robot within 100 miles of himself.

Nicole watched him and could see his nervous movements. She could tell he was terrified and put together that Snively had abandoned Robotnik in Robotropolis. She didn't know why or what circumstances lead to that, but what she did know is he was having some sort of crisis.

"He's going to find you." Nicole bluntly stated knowing the reality of the situation.

Snively felt as if he was being antagonized, and turned around with his gun raised. "The hell do you know? He spent years searching for Knothole in this forest and never found it." He was bolstering his own confidence.

He stared at her, and her blue eyes of light stared back at him, and neither of them trusted one another. Snively suspected she was some sort of trap, and she suspected he was no good given the abundance of technology he brought with him when he escaped. It was littered all about the floor around the fire and knew it had some purpose.

"Get out! Take the kid and leave!' Snively demanded again.

Nicole turned away, she knew she had more important things to worry about. She walked over to Max lying against the cave wall and bent down while placing her hand gently on his shoulder. "Max… We need to go." She said to him.

Max didn't move or respond at all, and he just remained in a state of unconscious rest. Nicole shook him a little rough, but it elicited no response from him. She lifted his head and checked out his face. He was entirely out, and his breathing was really labored. She could tell that his hourglass was running of sand, and started to feel emotionally fearful.

"Max... please!' Her tone was desperate.

Snively just kept his back to them, but the entire scene was breaking his heart. Now that he knew that the kid survived his little middle finger to Robotnik, he did not want him to die. He knew there was nothing he could do for him, but he kept a silent hope in his head.

Nicole's face started to turn from sadness to determination, and she stood up. "I'll not let you die, you wouldn't let me!" She thundered.

She bent down, and with all of her strength she hoisted Max up to her chest holding him in both of her robotic arms. He almost looked like his mother in Sonic's. Nicole ignored Snively and only started to make haste out of the cave. Her robotic legs were sturdy and fast. They carried her much quicker than the typical animal's legs would. She ran, cradling Max in her arms like a superhero.

Under fallen trees, through flooded paths she went, her vision was able to pierce the darkness of night, and she could see clearly where she needed to go. Max bounced in her arms and didn't react to a single thing that was happening around him. Nicole leaped over a giant fallen tree, and landed with a skid, she kept her balance and used the momentum to propel herself to go even faster.

Time was ticking down, but the closer she got to Knothole the more determined she became. She pumped her metal legs and didn't stop until she could see a faint glow in the distance. After a twenty-five-minute run, she was here, she made it, the brightness of a hut was clearly identifiable to her.

Nicole stopped and looked down to check on Max, and she could tell he was still breathing heavily. She had not wanted to carry him like that for fear of worsening his injuries with her rugged metal body. Desperate times called for last resorts, however, and she was just thankful she was here as quick as she was. Snively's extraordinary act of benevolence had bought him ever so much time, and even if Nicole felt the strange sensation of hatred for him, she at least acknowledged his hand in preserving Max's life just a little bit longer.

She moved her metal body in the storm carrying Max gently now that she was within reach of Knothole, and she started to notice that most of the huts were silent and darkened. It was odd even at this time, and it made Nicole wonder just how many Freedom Fighters made it back from the mission at all. The light she saw appeared to be coming from Tails' hut, and even though she thought he was gone, perhaps he had returned during their absence. Her bright blue eyes looked around, and she was unable to calculate how long they had been trapped.

Max was nestled into her arms, and the rain was running off his body as it was hers, she figured that no matter who was in Tails' hut they had to be able to help Max better than she could at the moment. She started to make her way towards the hut, but she hadn't realized just how much her eyes pierced through the storm. She could hear faint footsteps racing behind her, and quickly stepped away from the source of the sound. When she turned around, she could see Annie standing there, soaked in the rain. She was carrying a giant thick stick and apparently attended to assault her with it.

Nicole could see the scared girl clearly through the rain, though it was so dark where they stood Annie could see naught but her blue eyes, creating the illusion of a horrifying threat. Annie raised the weapon and looked as if she was about to swing it.

"G-get the fuck outta here!" She screamed as the sound of rain and thunder muffled it somewhat. Annie could tell it was a robot, and was desperately, if not foolishly trying to attack it. Annie was one who tended to look out windows and daydream, so it made sense she would spot such an oddity in the darkness.

Nicole held Max, and Annie could not see him through the darkness and all of the chaos. She swung the stick, and it was heading for a full-on collision with Max's head. Nicole quickly turned, and the stick smashed against the back of her head breaking on impact. The force of the slam caused Nicole to drop to her knees, but she didn't lose Max from her grasp.

"Ah!' Her voice came out in surprise, though it did little to hurt or damage her in any way.

When the voice came, Annie stopped for a second. It sounded so familiar to her, yet different. It seemed like one she had heard many times, but with the inflection of an animal.

"J-just who the hell are you!" She yelled over the rain, not sure if she trusted her initial appraisal of the being. She didn't believe or like robots, but the voice made her confidence waiver.

Nicole was bent down, but she started to rise with her back turned. She turned around revealing her blue eyes shining brightly in the rain. "I am Nicole… Nicole the Lynx." She stated her self-imposed identity for the first time, and the name Nicole sent shivers down Annie's spine. There was no way it was who her mind wandered to, and she stared in disbelief.

"O-Oh yeah, w-well prove it!" She said calling the machine's bluff. If it was Nicole, Max's Nicole, the only Nicole she knew; surely, she would be able to prove it.

Nicole said nothing and started to look down. Her bright blue eyes shined light on her arms revealing an unconscious, battered, and particularly sickly-looking Max. Annie's heart cracked, and she couldn't believe what she was looking at. She ran over to him, caring not for the robot but the ghost she had once written off for dead.

"Max! Max, speak to me!" She shouted and her voice clearly upset. She placed her hand on him and could feel his struggled breaths. He indeed was alive, and he was here, though not in any condition Annie would have liked to see him in. Nicole kept her vision on Max providing the light for her to see her precious friend. Annie just hugged onto Max's neck and started to tear up, she knew he was in terrible condition, and that he needed serious help.

"He's dying," Nicole said, and Annie could hear the sorrow in her tone. As much as she had a million questions for her, now was not the time for this. Nicole looked up, and it was now apparent that Annie's yelling had drawn the attention of those in Knothole. Sonia was at the door of her now brightly lit hut looking outside into the darkness confused, and not too far away was Tails popping his head out of his hut window. Nicole just kept her vision downwards shining light on Max for them to see, and the flood of elated panic started. Sonia could see her brother, and Tails immediately began to hop out of his window, not caring to take the time to leave through the door.

"Brother!" Sonia couldn't believe her eyes.

Tails ran towards the robot, and though he didn't trust her, it had not harmed Annie and apparently brought Max back to them.

"What's going on?" Tails asked Annie.

"S-She brought Max back, but he's dying! We need to help him!" Annie said in a panic.

Sonia stopped when she heard that, and shook her head. "N-no we have to do something! Anything!' She got caught up in the panic as well.

"Annie, you and Sonia run and get the medical supplies from storage. I am going to bring him to Cream and see if we can fix this!" Tails gave his orders to the two, who unquestioningly started running off to do as they were told. Tails walked up to Nicole and then held out his hands for her to hand Max over to him.

Nicole just gently passed Max off into Tails' arms, and he gave a nod of approval. He was still somewhat untrusting, but the robot proved itself an alley by handing Max over to him without any sort of trickery. "I don't know who you are, and I intend to find out later, but… Thanks." With that, he turned to start running off towards his hut. Max was top priority right now, and he was scared to death of losing Sonic's son.

Nicole watched as everyone disappeared from her vision and she just stood there lost in her own thoughts. Did she make it? Was Max going to survive? The answers were utterly unclear to her. Nicole finally saw and understood the world that Max had willed for her, that he had tried to get her to understand. She didn't know if Max would ever be the same after all of this, but she certainly knew that her job was not complete.

"I have a promise to keep," Nicole said to herself, and with that, she started marching towards Tails' hut. Welcome or not she didn't care, Max was trusting her, and she wouldn't let him down.


End file.
